A Burnett secondary student recently came home after winning big at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island.
Haruki Mori, also from Steveston Karate Club, won gold and silver respectively in the male Kata and male -68kg Kumite categories. The young athlete told The Richmond News he was "very proud" of himself for his accomplishment as a representative of B.C.
"It was an amazing experience being able to participate as one of the athletes for karate for the first time in the Canada Winter Games," said Mori.
"This tournament also brought me, more confidence in my skill within karate, as well as learning and experiencing many things throughout the winter games."
Mori had qualified for the Games after competing in the 2022 Canada Open Karate Championships at Richmond Olympic Oval.
This year marked the first time karate was included in the Canada Winter Games, a biennial multi-sport event for young athletes, and Team B.C. finished on top with four gold, one silver and five bronze medals.
Head coach Toshi Uchiage said it was "a great honour" to be part of the historic event.
"It's great that the athletes now have a major multi-sport event on a national scale, and hopefully the experiences and lessons learned at this event will help propel them to major international multi-sport events such as the Pan American Games, World Combat Games, World Beach Games and the World Games," he said.
Uchiage was also impressed by the performance of Team B.C., who improved "astronomically" amidst their growth spurts.
"I am relieved, and happy for the athletes because I have watched them putting in the hard work, and it turned out that this time their efforts were rewarded with a medal."
