The 13th World Kendo Championships will be my last WKC. This tournament being my 7th WKC that I participated, I was already getting older and I could definitely feel a big difference in my physical condition compared to 2003 (12WKC Glasgow). I could not believe how much 3 years, made a difference in the physical abilities. At 13WKC, I only played 2 matches (against France and Brazil), and lost to my Kohai Jogi Sato from Brazil, in the Taisho match. That was my last WKC match.
Team Canada had a very strong team. We were very close to winning over the USA team, as we were leading until the Taisho match. But I have to admit: They had a better strategy, and they were stronger than us as a team. One of the USA team member works with me at e-bogu.com, and I was impressed by the dedication he had for the team for over a year prior to WKC. I am not surprised they beat Japan, after they beat us.
This team was basically the same as the 12WKC (Glasgow) and the 11WKC (Santa Clara). I hope the younger guys that will replace us (the old boys) will make the Canadian team strong and get the medal back to us.
