Karate champ shines in Japan

Hampton Park’s Lynda Gilchrist finished runner-up in her age group in the recent World Shukokai Championships in Japan. 33378 Picture: Stewart Chambers

By Stuart Teather
HAMPTON Park karate sensation Lynda Gilchrist certainly made her mark in Japan at the World Shukokai Championships, earlier this month.
The 15-year-old St John’s Regional College student took on some of the best young fighters in the world at the tournament, kicking and punching her way through four bouts to reach the final, eventually winning a silver medal.
Gilchrist had plenty of hurdles to overcome on her way to the final, not the least of which was Japan’s different rules for contact.
“In Japan you could have full-on contact, but you wore a head mask and mitts, compared to here where you’re not allowed contact,” she said.
Not that Gilchrist was worried by a bit of biff.
“It was full on over there, it was good experience for me, I’m one of those people who tends to whack a lot anyway, and I get a lot of warnings.”
Aside from the contact, the young fighter had to get used to competing on floorboards instead of mats, and then there was the food.
“There was a lot of fried food, and a lot of fish too, it was really nice, (but) I thought to myself, ‘no, I’m not a big fan of eating raw fish’.”
Gilchrist had little time to recover from her trip to Japan – the day after flying home she competed at the Melbourne Open.
Fighting off jet-lag and deal-ing with the different competition rules in Australia, Gilchrist dominated her division and claimed a gold medal.
“Flying back it was very tiring, when I was fighting I was very tired, but I still pulled through in the end.”
Gilchrist’s busy schedule is by no means over.
Next month she will represent Victoria at the National Championships in Adelaide for the third year running and she has even bigger competitions in her sights.
“I’d like to keep travelling the world and get different experiences how to fight other people,” she said.
“In 2011 I’ve been asked to go to Italy to compete in the Worlds again, but I need sponsors as well. That’s my dream.”
Gilchrist trains at the Australian Shukokai Karate Dojo in Dandenong.