Sensei Lisa Carr (ranked one), Sensei Terry Hunt (individually ranked one, team ranked two), Linda Wojcik (ranked two), 10-year-old Brandon McNabb (ranked two), 11-year-old Sarah Board (ranked two) and six-year-old Sebastian Board (ranked three) all received their rankings at a tournament in Sendai Japan.

The group of Blayney and Orange martial artists flew out from Sydney on October 9 to compete in the all Japan Koshiki (full contact) world cup on October 12.

The students were part of a strong team of over 26 competitors from Australia and were the only competitors west of the Blue Mountains.

Sensei Carr said to get the invitation to be a part of the Australian team the students needed to compete and qualify with top two rankings at six UMA Koshiki tournaments over the last 12 months.

“We are very proud of all these students, as they have travelled long distant around NSW to achieve this invitation from getting first and second rankings at every tournament that they have attended,” she said.

“Everybody competed well as there were over 2000 competitors from Japan, China, USA and New Zealand.”

Sensei Carr added just travelling to Japan was an eye opener for all who attended the tournament.

“The Japanese people were wonderful they made us feel like royalty,” she said.

“Where ever we went we would have the general public coming up and bowing and acknowledging us all from Australia.

“We were taken on tours around Japan and we got to visit a lot of temples and landmarks, it was the best experience that any of us had experienced.”

After such a successful tournament in Japan, the hito Ryu Central West Martial Arts centre will now send a team of 15 students from the Central West to compete in the UMA national Titles in Sydney on November 8, which acts as the last qualifier for the world championships that will be held in the USA next year.

“We will also be holding our international championships here mid-next year with four Japanese teams and USA and more coming over to the event,” Sensei Carr said.

“We are hoping to hold the event in Blayney or at a venue in Bathurst, bringing it back to the NSW country area, instead of Sydney.”