the 2nd Nordic Open Kata Tournament
which was held on August 28th 2010 in Helsinki, Finland

34 pairs representing 4 countries had been entered in time and 33 showed up, while one pair had to withdraw due to a broken bone! We had 9 pairs in nage-no-kata, 7 in katame-no-kata, 8 in ju-no-kata, 5 in kime-no-kata and 4 in Kodokan goshin-jutsu. The tournament was held on 2 tatamis with a total of 10 judges present all the time, 5 per tatami. The best individual performance was in the ju-no-kata preliminaries, were Wolfgang Dax-Romswinkel - Ulla Loosen was awarded 480 points (89% of total!). They went on to win also the final round with a slightly lower score. Staffan Nilsson - Sabine Schröder Andersson from Sweden placed second in ju-no-kata.	The competitors lined up for the opening ceremony Picture courtesy of Heikki Lähteenkorva
The Nage-no-kata was not unexpectedly won by the Finnish top pair Pasi Oinas (2.d) - Mika Salsoila (3.d), but Markku Henttonen (2.d) - Pasi Partanen (2.d) gave a good fight. The Swedish brothers Diego (3.d) and Emanuel (1.d) Velasqo placed third. Another gold medal to the hosting country came in Kodokan Goshin-jutsu, where Seppo Kontio (4.d) - Marko Kallio (3.d) where in a class of their own.	In Katame-no-kata the German pair Sebastian Frey (3.d) - Sei Kam Chow (3.d) did a much better kata in the final round and took gold before Swedens Staffan Nilsson (5.d) - Sabine Schröder Andersson (2.d). The bronze medals were taken by Mikko Tuominen (4.d) - Samu Laitinen (4.d) from Finland Kime-no-kata was won by the Swedish pair Diego Velasqo (3.d) - Markku Pihl (4.d) with a few points over Finns Jouni Korkka (4.d) - Pasi Oinas (2.d). The distance to the following pairs grew rather big.
Nage no kata 1. Pasi Oinas – Mika Salsoila Finland / Tikkurilan Judokat 2. Markku Henttonen – Pasi Partanen Finland / Hyvinkään JS 3. Diego Velasqo – Emanuel Velasqo Sweden / Kallinge JK Katame no kata 1. Sebastien Frey – Sei Kam Chow Germany 2. Staffan Nilsson – Sabine Schröder Sweden / Varberga JK 3. Mikko Tuominen – Samu Laitinen Finland / Holjutai Ju no kata 1. Wolfgang Dax-Romswinkel – Ulla Loosen Germany 2. Staffan Nilsson – Sabine Schröder Sweden / Varberga JK 3. Johann Moos – Raymond Vethay Suisse Kime no kata 1. Diego Velasqo – Markku Pihl Sweden / Kallinge JK 2. Jouni Korkka – Pasi Oinas Finland / Tikkurilan Judokat 3. Harri Rutanen – Sonny Forsberg Sweden / Gävle JK	Complete results with links to each individual performance. Pictures taken by Cliff Gilmore can be viewed on his flickr- site The tournament judges were Peter Martin (7.d, Sweden, IJF-licence), Åke Bransell (6.d, Sweden, IJF), Matts Premberg (6.d, Sweden, nat.), Jean-Pierre Ryser (6.d, Switzerland, EJU), Jaakko Hannula (4.d, Finland, IJF), Rosalie Evans (4.d, Norway, EJU), Arttu Laitinen (4.d, Finland, EJU), Peter Mickelsson (4.d, Finland, nat.), Hannu Mustonen (4.d, Finland, nat.) and Jarmila Franck (3.d, Sweden, nat). A special prize was given to Peter Martin to show our appreciation for the great job he has done during a long time to promote kata practice and kata competitions in the Nordic countries. Doomo arrigatoo, Peter-sensei! Kodokan Goshin Jutsu 1. Seppo Kontio – Marko Kallio Finland / Tikkurilan Judokat 2. Sonny Forsberg - Harri Rutanen Sweden / Gävle JK 3. Micael Öberg – Tomas Rundqvist Sweden
Jarmila Franck, Arttu Laitinen, Matts Premberg, Hannu Mustonen and Peter Mickelsson	Jaakko Hannula, Jean-Pierre Ryser, Rosalie Evans, Peter Martin and Åke Bransell

Invitation as a pdf document      Suomenkielinen kutsu (pdf )