THE south-west has two new state karate champions in its midst.
Sonia Morey and Josh Suringa tasted success at the National All Styles (NAS) state championships on Saturday at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Sonia took out the continuous sparring division and Josh was triumphant in the black belt kata division.
Camperdown's Matthew Conroy also attended the titles, finishing second in point sparring and third in kata.
Participants from more than 100 different styles of martial arts competed at the event.
The Funakoshi school was one of the smallest dojos represented.
The weekend marked Josh's best result at the titles, which he has attended four times.
"Last year I was runner-up in the same event," the 16-year-old said.
"Basically I had to prepare a routine, which is called the kata. I've been practising it for the last three months."
All that practice was perfect preparation for Josh, who received scores of 7.29, 7.32 and 7.28 from the judges to take out his section.
He was proud of the win but said it didn't quite measure up to last year, when he travelled to South Africa and earned the title of overall male black belt champion in the 13-14 category.
"Going to South Africa helped a lot," he said.
"I'm also very thankful of my instructor Frank (McKenzie) who has helped me with my routine."
Sonia is no stranger to state titles, having won three Australian Karate Federation championships.
The Nirranda 16-year-old competed in three rounds on Saturday, with her sharp technique and focus in the first two rounds effectively sending her to the final.
She and her opponent put on an entertaining duel and were judged even after the first two minutes.
A one-minute tie-breaker followed, with the judges again unable to split the duo.
"It came down to the judge's decision and he awarded it to me," Sonia said.
"I was very excited."
Sonia, Josh and Matthew have all qualified to compete at the NAS national championships in Melbourne at the end of November.
McKenzie said he was impressed with their performances on the weekend.
"This was a fantastic result and demonstrates that the standard of karate in western Victoria is very capable of standing up to competition from metropolitan Melbourne and interstate," he said.
Camperdown Funakoshi karate instructor Peter Conroy also competed on Saturday but did not place.