16th Asian Pacific Shito-ryu Karate-do Championships in Singapore – November 2024

At the 16th Asian Pacific Shitoryu Karate-Do Championships, which took place from November 27 to December 02, 2024 and was hosted in Singapore, the technical manager of the club and representative of World Shito-ryu Karate-do Federation in Greece, George Pelekis, participated once again.

Mr. Pelekis has been participating in the above mentioned event since 2012 without interruption, even though Greece is not a member of the Asia Pacific Shito-ryu Karate-do Federation (because it belongs to Europe) and does not have the right to participate in similar events.
However, due to his special relationship with Asia and the factors of the World Shito-ryu Karate-do Federation, George Pelekis was the main guest from our country as well as the only Greek who received an invitation for the official dinner of the representatives of the member countries of Asia.

The program of the event included, as always, technical seminars, a refereeing seminar, promotional examinations, a conference of representatives, culminating in the two-day Championship and closing with the farewell dinner where the technical manager of the club was honored as the representative of Greece.

George Pelekis participated in the technical seminars and the Championship as a referee, while the most important thing in this particular event was the right he was given to be examined by a committee consisting of high-ranking executives of World Shito-ryu Karate-do Federation, for the rank of 7th Dan. Quite demanding examinations on a technical level since of all those examined for 7th Dan, only two managed to advance and which he passed successfully, currently being the highest-ranked in Greece in Shitoryu. However, he already held this rank as he had been examined by Soke Kenyu Mabuni, the leader and successor of the system, in 2022 and had been promoted in the level of 7th Dan.

But above all, his participation in the 16th Pan-Asian Championship gave Mr. Pelekis the opportunity to meet many close friends, representatives of countries and factors of Shitokai, renewing his relationship that has already spanned almost two decades in this particular event.