Italy
The Real Life Karate Kid 2010 Comes From Dubai In The United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Anybody remember the 1984 blockbuster “The Karate Kid?
Of course, you do. It was even nominated for an Oscar. Can you believe it?
I think the movie got a lot of kids to start taking karate and other martial classes. And that’s a good thing in my humble opinion.
And coming to a theater near you in June, this year’s “Karate Kid” stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.
It looks entertaining and it will definitely get more kids and probably even some adults into the dojos.
Again, that’s a good thing, even though it’s more about kung fu than karate, but heck, who’s crossing their “T’s” and dotting their “I’s” anyway?
If you want to whet your appetite, simply check out the trailer:
Meanwhile, off-screen and in real life the United Arab Emirates celebrate their own Karate Kid:
In the Northern Italian metropolis of Milan, 13-year-old Khalifa al Abbar landed a remarkable victory at the Italian Open International Championship.
In a highly competitive field of karate practitioners from 49 countries Khalifa took home the gold medal.
In the process he remained victorious against four Italians and an American in the Under 14 category.
His victory even came as a surprise to him after finishing fourth in last year’s tournament.
As regular readers of TheMartialArtsReporter.com you already know that karate is not an Olympic sport and you might even know that World Championships are not open to competitors under the age of 14.
That’s why this tournament in Italy with more than 2,000 competitors is considered THE event for karateka under 14.
This has to be Khalifa’s biggest win so far and he certainly worked hard for it.
According to reports, he will take a 3 month hiatus to improve his overall fitness and muscle mass to be able to stay on top of his game.
Congratulations, Khalifa al Abbar!
To learn more about Khalifa, who is an inspiration for many other kids and teenagers, here are two video clips I found just for you:
Reminder: Italian Female Karate Champion Defeats Mugger
The following story broke in September 2008 and it was also posted by my fellow blogger/martial artist John Zimmer over at MySelfDefenseBlog.com
As you know by now, I strongly advocate that girls and women should practice some type of effective self-defense.
That’s why I feel the incident that happened in the Italian capital city of Rome serves as a reminder. And its outcome as an inspiration for girls and women.
Lara Liotta was 29 at the time and already four times Italian women’s karate champion in the under 55 kg (120 lbs.) weight division.
While walking on a street in central Rome in broad daylight a man just approached her and asked her for a smoke.
She told him that she did not smoke and that’s when he allegedly lunged for her and grabbed her around the neck.
Obviously, this guy had no idea who he was dealing with.
Lara Liotta, who also works as prison officer, didn’t waste any time and put her black belt training to good use to defend herself.
Reports say that she executed two swift jabs to the man’s face knocking him to the ground.
I’m just wondering if she actually did 2 jabs or maybe a One-Two (Jab-Cross) combination. Doesn’t really matter right now.
I read that this female karate champion was fortunate she could rely on her skills to fight off her attacker, because there was no assistance from passersby, despite the attack happening shortly after rush hour on a Monday. Maybe it all went to fast for them to notice. Yeah, right.
This is not the first time and I am sorry to say that it will not be the last time that too many passerby don’t give a hoot. That’s just a fact of life.
Lara Liotta told an Italian newspaper that no one helped her or stopped, even though there were a bunch of people around at that time of the day.
After punching the man to the ground, Lara did the right thing.
She ran to the nearby railway station of Termini and alerted police, who caught the perp before he could run away. He was arrested and detained on charges of assault.
I urge you to read her statement very carefully:
“It could have been much worse. What would have happened if this person, instead of attacking me, a karate champion who knows how to defend herself well, had attacked a young girl?”
Lara Liotta also mentioned that she was lost for words.
Well, in this case her action was certainly louder than mere words.
It also looks like there was no time for talking or reasoning anyway.
Shouri, Lara Liotta!
SUPER DEAL! SIGN UP TODAY!
Pages
Archives
Categories
Links
