Words from Nelson Carrión, WTKF General Secretary

I’m really happy that the European Championship in Russia will finally take place. From the very beginning I was heart and hand for organizing this prestigious event in Russia. First, I was really impressed with how international tournaments “Kumite Evolution” in Irkutsk have been organized for the last three years. Second, I appreciate a lot the efforts All-Russian Traditional Karate Federation has made in the field of education.

Many years ago, I was commissioned by Sensei Hidetaka Nishiyama (1928–2008) to create an institute in order to protect and develop the unique legacy of traditional karate-do he passed on to us. Some time had to pass away. In 2012 the project finally came to existence and it was Sensei Pavel Chernousov and the federation he is in charge of who set about the most energetically. Already in 2019 I was awarding the first graduates in Irkutsk with state-recognized diplomas. That’s how things should be done!

The General Educational and Competition Standard (GECS) to be introduced at the international level for the first time is a visible product of this hard work and vivid cooperation. It’s a well-thought-out methodology of upbringing of a personality through the traditional karate-do practice, the way that doesn’t choose for gifted and ordinary but an effective tool for everyone. I’m really proud of my Russian colleagues who have managed such an ambitious project.

Finally, I’d like to express my deep gratitude to scholars who will deliver presentations during III International Budo-Conference “Education of personality and self-development: martial arts traditions and contemporary science”. We live in the century of science when every idea and decision has to be scientifically proven. I hope we will receive new and profound evidence for the positive influence of traditional martial arts on the growth of personality everyone among us knows from experience.

Congratulations to Russian karateka! You’ve done it!

Nelson Carrión, 7 Dan

TKI Director and founder,

WTKF Secretary General