Biased

[Fish]

Sadly, life's like that some times.

[aefibird]

Yes, unfortunately, most karate competitions can be biased in some way, even if it's just with the weight or height divisions for sparring(as you experienced RedTriangleStudent) or the belt divisions for kata.

 

For example, because there don't tend to be as many women enter traditional karate competitions as men, the ladies kata section is generally for all grades whereas the mens & childrens are usually split up into different groups depending on belt rank. This means that a female white belt could be facing a black belt, but not the same case for a male. However, you just have to look beyond things like that and do your best and really go for it!

 

If you feel that a competition was unfair then you just have to try and get over it and hope to do better next time.

[ramymensa]

Having a certain rank doesn't automatically mean you can best all those under you. I can win kumite sessions against more advanced partners, because I trained like a mad man (well, woman) and I'm very determined in winning. In kata, I sometimes work better than most of my coleagues because I'm very attentive at all the details. Still, any beginnner with enough "spirit" and knowledge could sometimes win against me. We are not perfect (we're humans, make mistakes, feel ill sometimes, recover from injuries or having social/personal problems). All these can hinder us in MA life too.

 

So it's not such an unusual thing to lose against a lower rank. Remember we all succeeded against higher ranks at least once in a lifetime And we were in heaven

 

So, my precious advice move on. If they won fairly, don't despair. Work hard and put it behind. Go to other tourneys and prepare to win and also lose. If the contest wasn't fair ... it happens. I guess everybody here had this "surprise". So, go forward, learn something from this experience, unpleasant as it is and keep us posted.