The Sunday Times Sports - International Budo Camp in Wadduwa

Seventh International Budo Camping Sri Lanka will be held in Wadduwa from the October 2 to 8 at the Blue Water Hotel.

The top Martial Arts teams from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, China, Canada, England and Sri Lanka will take place in this camp. A total 19 instructors from Sri Lanka and from the above mentioned countries have been brought together by Olaf van Ellen, the Chief Organizer of this event. They will be able to teach different Martial Arts styles as Aikido, ATK, Hapkido, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Karate, Kickboxing, Modern Arnis, Shaolin-Kempo, Taekwondo, Tai Chi, Tako-ryu-Bushido, Wushu and WonHwaDo.

One of many highlights this year will be the participation of Soke Andy McGill from England who holds a 10th Dan Kenpo Karate.

A Budo-Camp is a Martial Arts training camp, where all kinds of International Martial Arts-styles come together to train and learn from each other. This would also include black belts, who are more known traditionally as Dan-degrees from all styles, train together with other participants.

‘Everybody will always remain as a student - good instructors never stop learning,’ said Olaf van Ellen, the Chief Organizer at the press conference held at Blue Water, last week.The week long camp would consist of six hours of training, both in the morning and another six hours in the afternoon, however all participants are given the freedom to choose how much they want to train. The organizers have planned a programme where all participants are assured of a purposeful camp and a memorable, fun-filled week.

‘But this camp is not only for Black belts. It is open to all Martial Artistes of all schools and styles, from beginners to advanced levels. Budo is not a particular style; it’s just a Japanese word for Martial Arts’ he added

Martial Arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. Today, martial arts are studied for various reasons including combat skills, fitness, self defence, sport, self-cultivation (meditation), mental discipline, character development and building self-confidence. A practitioner of martial arts is referred to a as a martial artiste.

‘We at Jetwing believe in investing in the development of the people within our community. Being sponsors of this event enables us to give more opportunity to the inhabitants in and around Wadduwa to further develop in the area of skills they are interested in’said Hiran Cooray, Managing Director of Jetwing Hotels.

The Sri Lanka Tourist Board in Frankfurt, Germany together with Jetwing Hotels, Jetwing Travels and Jet Asia will be co-sponsors of this event.