19th World Kendo Championships 4-7 July, Milan Italy.

Rembuden Kendo Club members Zac and Max represented themselves, the club and NZ proudly at the 3-yearly World Kendo Championships that was recently completed in Milan.  Max represented New Zealand in both the men's individual and men's team events, with Zac also competing in the team event.  In the team event NZ was in a pool with Australia, Bulgaria and Austria.  Unfortunately NZ's 5 man team was not able to progress out of the pool into the knockout stage.  NZ lost to Australia (1-4), but beat Bulgaria (2-1) and also Austria (4-1).  Max won all his team fights with two points against all his opponents.  Zac fought well but lost against a much more experienced and strong Australian player.  However he came back and was victorious against his Austrian opponent - providing a good start to that team match for NZ.  In the individual competition Max beat his Ukranian opponent comfortably with two points, but lost to his Italian and Korean opponents. Overall Max and Zac performed well for NZ, while both in thier first World Kendo Championships. A lot of hard work and motivation is required to perform at the level required to be selected for NZ, and then to perform well on the world stage.  We look forward to you both building on this experience for the next World Kendo Championships in 2027, Tokyo Japan.