A team photo. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)

By Nigel Maxwell

Martial Arts

Prince Albert Karate students score medals at Nationals

Oct 23, 2025 | 12:31 PM

For 11-year-old Isabella Ehlert the experience of competing at Nationals will be one she’ll never forget.

She was one of six students from the local Prince Albert club to travel to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, for the IKD Canadian Nationals (Oct 18-19), and placed first in individual Kata.

“Everything was new to me, like flights, airports, everything, pretty much, and I’ve never been a big competitive person before.”

Isabella’s older brother, Isaac, also competed and won first in both individual and team Kata and second in Kumite. He, too, acknowledged he had a lot of fun.

“I loved everything about it. I want to do it again,” he explained. “It’s a vibe, and the people there are so respectful. It’s just really fun.”

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Isaac Ehlert and Isabella Ehlert both won Gold in Individual Kata.

Isaac has been training in Karate for two years

“I love that it’s teaching self-defence and everything, and also we have a great Sensei who teaches us very well.”

Brothers Ben and David Kiunga were part of the gold medal-winning Kata team, and commented on how much they enjoyed the higher level of competition as well as watching the higher belts.

Justice Tabuchi, 17, won second in Kumite and had a very competitive division.

“Those boys were like very athletic for sure,” he commented. “I felt pretty confident in that area of Karate, for sure. I’ve been practicing a lot.”

Ben Kiunga, David Kiunga, and Isaac Ehlert won gold for Team Kata.

Deemakaran Moodley also travelled to Ontario and, despite not returning with a medal, said it was a really good experience. He also expressed his eagerness to go back.

Sensei Chris Lair, who is also the Chief IDK Instructor for Saskatchewan, said he was very happy with how the students did.

“We didn’t win the Canada Cup; Ontario won, but Ontario and Quebec come with teams of 40 or so people and with economics being what they are, we only came with a team of six. So had the competition been, who won the most medals per capita for how many competitors went, Saskatchewan would have won,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

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