World champ has big choices ahead

‘‘Karate comes naturally to me. I've been at it since I was five. My Dad got me into it. It's my favourite sport.’’

Taukea and Ake Raui are the proudest grandparents in the Cook Islands right now.

Their grand daughter Rosemary Pokoati, who lives in Manurewa and who’s now holidaying with them in Raratonga, is the reason they’re brimming with delight.

The last time they saw the 16-year-old she was just another karate kid. But when they opened their door to her on Wednesday a world champion greeted them.

Pokoati is an International Shotokan Karate Federation world champion.

The Manurewa High School student was judged the best exponent of the kata (a formalized sequence of movements and patterns) in the 16 - 17-year-old category at the federation’s third world championships in Cape Town, South Africa last month.

And as a bully at school discovered, Pokoati’s hands aren’t for patterns only. She won team bronze, one of two, in kumite (sparring) with an Australian as a partner. The other was in the team kata.

‘‘She started it and I finished it,’’ Pokoati says of the incident. ‘‘Self defense was one of the main reasons I took up karate. It helped me that day.’’

Pokoati lives for karate.

‘‘Self defence is just one aspect of it. I love the knowledge, the training and the discipline that it teaches, especially where nutrition is concerned.

‘‘Karate comes naturally to me. I’ve been at it since I was five. My Dad got me into it. It’s my favourite sport. I practise twice a week in the dojo run by my sensei Andrew Riley and nearly every other day at home.

‘‘I spar with my cousin Matthew. Dad, who is a brown belt, encourages us. He has been a big part of my development .

Pokoati is quietly thrilled with the world champion tag. She says it has been worth every bruise and every drop of sweat. But she has some big decisions lurking on the horizon.

‘‘I want to be a policewoman. I want to give back to the community. But I also want to go to the next Olympic Games where karate will make it’s debut.’’

Pokoati grins when the subject of the very popular Ultimate Fighting Championship is mentioned.

She’s keen but Teina, her mum, reminds her, ‘‘You have a lot more work to do before you’re ready for that.’’