The Zaborniaks were one happy family at the seventh Commonwealth Karate Championships in Montreal last weekend.
Three members of the Zaborniak family came away with gold medals at the elite competiton that attracts national stream martial artists from Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.
Alexandra Zaborniak, 14, placed first in sparring in the elite women’s black belt under-54 kilogram age group, while younger sister Stephi also took gold, defeating a South African with a head kick in the final 10 seconds of the match in the girls’ advanced 12/13 under-37 kg final.
Jimmy, nine, completed the rare accomplishment, winning a sparring gold against two Quebec fighters.
“We’ve seen it with brothers and sisters, but never with three. It’s rare to have three kids from the same family. … It’s a difficult feat, for sure,” said Burnaby Karate Academy sensei Sandeep Gill. “This is not a tournament that is easy to win. It puts into perspective how difficult it was to win.”
Academy fighters also medalled in nine other elite divisions.
Jusleen Virk won the women’s under-50kg final, and Derek Chan was the 18-to-20 men’s under-68kg champion. Chan also picked up a silver medal in the men’s under-60kg class.
Izzy Chan was a silver medallist in the 16/17 female under-48kg final.
Gurkamal Gill, Vanessa Vung, Jai Sanghera, Harpreet Sidhu and Isaac Mand also won bronze medals in their respective elite age and weight classes.
Other academy winners included Cassia Kitaoka and Jacob Mand, who won gold and silver in their respective, 12/13 categories.
