by Eduardo Pereira
Last June, a Naginata Seminar, Championship and Open-Cup, as well as Exams,were held in Portugal, in the historic city of Braga. This event was organized by the Portuguese Naginata Association (APNagi), which represents Portugal within the European Naginata Federation (ENF). Charlotte Vandersleyen, 5th Dan, came from England to be our instructor for the seminar, and also act as head referee in the Taikai. Gheorge Zhugravu and Oliver Masters, also from England, honored us with their presence!
On Friday night, we had free practice with almost all the participants in the event. The seminar started officially on Saturday and covered everything required for the exams (that came afterwards, later in the day), such as: Taisabaki, Kamae, Happoburi, Datotsu, Uchikaeshi, Shikake-oji, and Bogu training. We also practiced fighting techniques to prepare us for the competition the following day.
On Saturday afternoon, the kyu examination took place with the examiners: Charlotte Vandersleyen, Eduardo Pereira, and Eduardo Brito. We congratulate all the candidates for their hard work, dedication and perseverance!
Exam results:
Vasco Martins (APNagi) – 3rd kyu
Gheorge Zhugravu (ASPIRE) – 3rd kyu
The Taikai consisted of the National Portuguese Championship and an Open-Cup (open to all, from Portugal and abroad).
National Forms Championship (Engi Kyogi) teams of 2, and selected shikake-oji was 1, 3, 4.
1st Place – Vasco Martins & Mário China
2nd Place – Filipe de Oliveira & Eduardo Brito
3rd Place – Manuel Rodrigues & Eduardo Pereira
National Individual Championship (Shiai)
1st Place – Vasco Martins
2nd Place – Eduardo Brito
3rd Place – Filipe de Oliveira
In addition, the Open Cup welcomed both national and international athletes, with competitions held in Individual Shiai and Team Shiai.
Open Cup – Individual Shiai:
1st Place – Filipe de Oliveira
2nd Place – Eduardo Brito
3rd Place – Mário China
Open Cup – Team Shiai:
1st Place – Lavínia Salazar, Mário China & Filipe de Oliveira
2nd Place – Manuel Rodrigues, Gheorge Zhugravu & Eduardo Brito
3rd Place – Eduardo Pereira, Oliver Masters & Vasco Martins
Fighting Spirit – Manuel Rodrigues
Photo: Medalists from the National Championship and Open Cup. From left to right: Manuel Rodrigues, Lavínia Salazar, Charlotte Vandersleyen (Head Referee), Gheorge Zhugravu, Vasco Martins, Mário China, Oliver Masters, Eduardo Brito, Filipe de Oliveira, Eduardo Pereira.
We thank and congratulate all athletes, referees and everyone who helped in the event.
The Sayonara party was held on Saturday night at “Cervejaria F Beer House”, and yes, the place’s name is just this “F”… You might wonder what the F* this means! More on this later. Anyways, the food was spectacular and bar also offered a curated selection of beers and drinks.
We were offered mysterious “special” shots to all at the table. It was good, hot and I still don’t know what was in that drink. Everyone took the opportunity to get to know each other better, sharing their experiences about life, naginata, and living in other countries, as some of us have lived and moved from/to other countries. We finally found out that the “F” means “food, fun and friends”. I can attest that we ate well, had lots of fun and were enjoying a good time among friends!