- Two outstanding karatekas of Universidad de Santiago were part of the Chilean youth team that represented Chile at the WKF Junior, Cadet and under 21 Championship held in Jakarta, Indonesia, between November 12th and 15th. Javiera González, a student at the Bachelor’s Program in Physical Activity Sciences, and Matías Rodríguez, a student at the Business Engineering Program, showed themselves very gratified for obtaining the scores required to participate in the competition that brought together delegations of 95 different countries. Javiera and Matías belong to the karate branch of our university that has already won the first places in women and men categories in the championship coordinated by the University National Federation of Sports.
The WKF Junior, Cadet and under 21 Championship was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, between November 12th and 15th. This competition brought together the newest generations in this discipline, including categories from 12 to 20 years old.
Matías Rodríguez, a student at the Business Engineering Program, and Javiera González, a student at the Bachelor’s Program in Physical Activity Sciences, at Universidad de Santiago, were part of the team representing Chile.
This was not a surprise, as they have both showed a high performance: They were part of the men and women teams, respectively, that won the University National Championship of Karate, FENAUDE 2015, last October. The university team accomplished this feat for the sixth consecutive time: something completely unprecedented in this type of competition.
Matías Rodríguez explained that due to the good performance of some young karatekas, the National Federation of Karate “developed a project to support the most prominent competitors, with a view to participating in the South American Games in 2018.”
“They started supporting 6 people, including myself, for my results as triple South American finalist and Pan American finalist, where I won silver and gold medals.”
Thanks to the support given by the National Karate Federation, Javiera and Matías were able to participate in the Karate 1 Premier League Championship held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last May.
“In that competition I got the 07th place out of 50 competitors in the adult category. And Javiera got the second place, so they [the Federation] saw our good results,” he said.
The WKF Junior, Cadet and under 21 Championship
95 countries participated in the WKF Junior, Cadet and under 21 Championship, including karate powers like France, Japan and Turkey.
“I have prepared myself both physically and psychologically, as I have to compete with world karate powers France, Azerbaijan, Turkey, China and Japan,” Matías said before leaving for the competition.
For her part, Javiera said that she considered this experience exciting. “It is my first world championship and I have been working hard to bring a medal and experience,” she said before the competition.
University support
Matías understands that his good performance is related to his constant and strict training that has taken months, together with the successful results he has obtained in different competitions.
However, the support given by the university so that he can combine his sports talent and his academic excellence has been essential for his many triumphs.
“I feel totally supported by the university to participate in these important competitions,” he said.
Both Javiera and Matías appreciate that every time they return to their academic activities, they are not stressed by a heavy academic work load, as the authorities and professors at their programs help them in everything they need.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
