Aussies awarded Dans in Japan
Nearly 2000 Kyokushin karateka
competed in the International Karate
Organisation (IKO) Kyokushinkaikan’s
sixth World Weight Category and
International Karate Friendship
Tournament in Japan — but only two
attendees, both Australians, received
7th Dan promotions.
Held at the Tokyo Taiikukan in
April, the event included a special
awards presentation, during which
IKO director Kancho Shokei Matsui
presented the rare 7th Dan grades
to Shihan Trevor Tockar and Shihan
Nik Cujic. Both men are Australian
branch chiefs of the IKO, with Shihan
Cujic also being the South Pacific
regional representative.
Shihan Cujic has been practising
karate for 50 years and was
Australia’s first full-contact karate
champion at heavyweight, as
well as the open-weight grand
champion, winning both titles in
- Kyokushin founder Sosai Mas
Oyama personally promoted Cujic
to 2nd Dan in recognition of his
achievement. Cujic was also selected
to represent Australia at the World
Tournaments in 1975, 1979 and 1984,
but due to injury he only fought in
the 1984 event before retiring from
competition. He has since coached
many of his students to state and
national titles as well as international
representation — including his
son, Steven, who has won several
Australian Open Championships and
trained in Japan for more than five
years before winning the All Japan
Open heavyweight title in 2014.
Sensei Steven was recently
promoted to 4th Dan and Shihan
Cujic’s wife, Joy, also a 4th Dan, is
one of the highest ranked female
karateka in the IKO.
The Cujic family operates several
dojos in Australia, with the main
one located in Caringbah, New
South Wales.
Shihan Tockar has been
training in Kyokushin for 48 years
and competed at national and
international level in both all-styles
karate and full-contact Kyokushin
between 1969 and 1982 in his native
South Africa. He was in the South
African team at the first World Open
Karate Tournament in Tokyo in 1975
and later coached the team from
1979 until his immigration to Australia
in 2001. Tockar was promoted to 5th
Dan by Sosai Mas Oyama in 1981 and
14 years later was awarded his 6th
Dan by Kancho Matsui.
As chief instructor of North
Bondi Kyokushin, Shihan Tockar has
coached his two sons, Anthony and
David, to Australian titles and to
compete internationally.
The Aussie shihans were
presented with their 7th Dans in
front of family members and a
large group of students who had
travelled from Australia to attend
the ceremony.TKD stuntman runs courses on Gold Coast
International stunt performer and action actor
Ryan Handley recently returned to his father’s
Gold Coast’s Stunt Academy, where his career
began, to run courses for budding fallguys.
Handley, who recently played lead villain
‘Zoom’ in the hit TV series The Flash, began
training at the Australian Stunt Academy at
the age of four under the supervision of his
father, seasoned actor, Hollywood stuntman
and former taekwondo fighter Colin Handley.
“As soon as he could walk, Ryan was
running around the dojo and was a regular
at the Stunt Academy when we first opened
22 years ago,” said Colin. “I’m so proud of the
successful career he has made for himself in
Hollywood and across the globe.”
Handley is one of the many successful
stunt performers to come from theprofessional training facility, with Stunt
Academy Graduates having worked on recent
projects including Hacksaw Ridge, Suicide
Squad and Jackie Chan’s Bleeding Steel.
Handley now works all over the world
and resides in Vancouver, where he plays
Prometheus on the TV superhero series
Arrow. He returned to the Stunt Academy in
Nerang, Qld to replicate a spectacular stunt
he performed at just 15 years old, jumping
though flames in front of the academy
building. He also surprised current students
by choreographing the fights for their final
assessment — a filmed action scene.
The Australian Stunt Academy runs
four 2-week professional courses per year
on the Gold Coast, as well as multi-level
courses overseas.Shihans Cujic (left) and Tockar after
being awarded their 7th DansRyan Handley in full flightBLITZ & PIECES |ƫ333ċ (%06) #ċ*!0ƫđƫ^11