The University of Navarra participates in the Spanish Kendo Championship
For the first time the university club Kenseikai participated in the national championship of this Japanese fencing discipline
PHOTO: Courtesy
The XXXV Spanish Senior and Junior Kendo Championship for men and women was held in Madrid on November 23rd and 24th. An event that counted with the participation of more than one hundred athletes from numerous autonomous communities. This is the first year that Navarra has national representation by the hand of the Kenseikai kendo club.
Javier Armendáriz was the 'kendoka' representative of the University of Navarra who climbed to the eighth finals, a figure that far from alluding to an early disqualification, shows the growth of this Japanese fencing in Spain.
The 2013 podium was shared by athletes from Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Valencia, Madrid and Castilla y León in the senior male and female, junior and team categories. The issue of practitioners grows exponentially with each year, increasing both the national skill and international visibility.
The Kenseikai kendo club is young. It opened its doors in 2005 at the University of Navarra, and since then has seen people of very different traits and ages come and go. Heterogeneity is a frequent aspect in martial arts, since a priori a powerful physical form is not necessary, but is acquired through coordination, precision and discipline of the movements. After the great leap in the Spanish Championship, the club, composed of 15 athletes, will continue to grow in order to advance in the difficult path of the sword.