The second National Iaido Tournament, organized by the ‘Plovdiv Kendo Kai' sports club, was held in the city of Plovdiv on Apr. 15th 2018. Together with the clubs from Plovdiv and Varna, Club Shinbukan also participated in the event and was represented by eight iaidokas from Sofia and one from Veliko Tarnovo.
The Shinbukan participants competed in all four categories, occupying the following positions in the final results:
- Mudan category: Galin Todorov (2nd place) and Ivan Agopyan (3rd place);
- 1st kyu - 1st dan category: Magdalena Slavcheva (3rd place);
- 2nd dan category: Nikolay Chankov (1st place);
- 3rd dan category: Tsvetoslav Nikolov (3rd place)
The tournament organisation was impeccable - from the participants' accommodation at the hotel and the sayonara party, to the tournament events themselves, the awarding ceremony and the participants' see-off. The competition took place in a very pleasant atmosphere and a spirit of friendship and cooperation. What was very useful and valuable was the participation of Peter Roeder sensei (Germany, iaido 6th dan), who opened the competition with a short seminar session, including a warm-up part, demonstration, and explanation of the seitei katas' main points, as well as individual training which introduced the possibility of giving personal advice and guidance. The tournament matches were also preceded by a demonstrative match, as well as by detailed referee instructions. The competition ended with iaido kyu grade examinations, followed by an award- and diploma-giving ceremony. All contestants from Club Shinbukan are fully satisfied by the environment in which the tournament took place and are looking forward to its next edition in 2019. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all organizers of and participants in the tournament!
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