WNY Karate Center students compete well in championships

WNY Karate Center students Adam Goldstein and Destinie Belter recently placed in the top three in their division at recent tournaments.

Adam Goldstein and Destinie Belter continue to improve their skills in karate.

Students of WNY Karate Center, they achieved Grand Championships at recent martial arts tournaments.

"They are tremendous competitors and very accomplished for their ages," said the owner, Master Jim Cvetkovski.

Adam, 11, has been training karate for two years and has placed in his division in all the tournaments he recently has entered. Included were the Buffalo Niagara Martial Arts Championships in Niagara Falls, the annual Upstate Open Karate Championship in Rochester and the 2006 annual August Moon Championship in Buffalo, where he took first place in point sparring.

In March he was presented the 2006 Tournament Series Championship Award by the International Federation of Martial Arts at a ceremony in Batavia. He was also invited to compete at the 2007 IFMA Annual Championship and won the League Championship in both kata (forms) and sparring.

Adam went on to win the age 12 and younger 2007 Advanced Grand Championship.

Destinie, who has been training for 10 years, has been competing at the national level for the past three. She received the honor of Competitor of the Year from IFMA, as well as placing first runner up in kata, second runner-up in point sparring and fourth runner up in continuous sparring at the Advanced Grand Championship.

She took Grand Champion in point sparring and second in continuous sparring at the IFMA Invitational.

Throughout 2006 she competed at the 23rd annual Buffalo Niagara Martial Arts Championships, taking first in kata and second in sparring, and at the Super Grands, held in Buffalo, she was third-place amateur.

At age 13 Destinie achieved her black belt, the youngest student at WNY Karate Center to attain that accomplishment.