Surrey’s Black Belt Academy take 5 Gold 1 Silver and 2 Bronze at ATA’s Tournament of Champions!

During the week of July 14th – 19th in Phoenix Arizona, ATA hosted the Tournament of Champions.  Top 10 Black Belts from around the globe attended to compete for Gold in their respective divisions.  Out of the 40,000 active Black Belts in the ATA, only 2400 qualified for the TOC.  The three-day tournament saw Black Belts and Masters from Canada, the US, South Africa, South America and Europe all in attendance.

Chief Master Karpiuk, director of Surrey Black Belt Academy, qualified in six categories within his division.   He was looking forward to defending his 4 World Titles from the previous year.  He also had three of his students who qualified and competed as well.  His Academy Director of Leadership Development, Mr. Timothy Millard, competed in several Top 10 Competitions and WON BRONZE in Traditional Forms. Mr. Phil Pollard, also qualified in 4 Top 10 competitions and WON WORLD CHAMPION in Traditional Form, a Silver in Traditional Weapons and Bronze in Sparring.   Mrs. Millard competed for the very first time at the Tournament of Champions and just missed a medal by a few points.  All of Chief Master Karpiuk’s students also competed and won several medals on the weekend at the Super 20 Tournament for the start of the new tournament cycle.

Master Karpiuk successfully defended two of his World Titles and added two new World Champion Titles (Extreme Form and Extreme Weapons) plus a Bronze in Traditional Weapons.  He is very thankful to his physiotherapist Wyatt at  Trifecta Rehab, Dr. Mann, Sai and Anton at Performance Health Group and Dr. Lochub at MediSan Health for getting him prepared and keeping him healthy!

Submitted by

Chief Master Karpiuk and
Black Belt Academy Staff