World Karate Organization Shinkyokushinkai Guam and WKO Shinkyokushinkai Northern Mariana Islands traveled together to the Karate Dream Festival 2026 International Championship, held July 18-19 at Yoyogi National Stadium First Gymnasium in Tokyo.

Before entering the stadium and confidently walking onto the mats, athletes from Guam and Saipan trained at the Minato Tokyo Bay Branch Dojo of Shihan Yasukazu Koi, executive director of the WKO, sharing the floor with members of two Shinkyokushin branches from Canada.

The training proved invaluable.

“Training shoulder-to-shoulder with karateka (karate experts) from the other side of the world – some of whom we would face days later in competition – is exactly the spirit this organization is built on, and our athletes stepped into Yoyogi sharp because of it,” said WKO Shinkyokushinkai Guam and WKO Shinkyokushinkai Northern Mariana Islands Branch Chief Chris Biolchino.

The tournament itself made history. With 4,057 entrants from 24 countries and regions, it was certified by Guinness World Records as the largest full-contact karate championship ever held, and athletes from Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands were part of it. The combined delegation of 17 ranged in age from 6 to 70. Team Guam fielded 10 competitors, including a kata (forms) squad and an All-Japan U25 women’s fighter, while Team NMI fielded seven, from the youngest at age 6 to senior kumite (fighting) competitors in the All-Japan open divisions. They competed in individual kumite, individual kata and group kata against opponents from Japan, Kazakhstan, Canada, the Philippines, South Africa, Australia, China and Europe.

“Standing on the courts at Yoyogi – inside a world-record event, on the same stage where world champions are crowned – represents years of building Shinkyokushin karate in the Marianas, and proves to our young people that the path from a dojo on Guam or Saipan to the sport’s biggest arena is real,” Chris Biolchino said.

While the personal and team accomplishments were many, Chris Biolchino told The Guam Daily Post he is most proud of the results from Kai Jalen Balmeo, Yennafer Celis and Mei Joy Balagtas, who competed in the group team kata division, a first for Guam.

Group kata demands three athletes performing as one, with perfectly synchronized timing, breathing and spirit.

“To debut that event on the sport’s biggest stage and deliver an excellent performance is a milestone for karate in the Marianas,” Chris Biolchino said. “Beyond that first, we earned three victories in the individual kata divisions: Yennafer Celis and Mei Joy Balagtas both won in the All-Japan Women’s division against international black-belt fields, and Joseph Biolchino won in the boys division.

“Special recognition belongs to our two triple-discipline athletes: Mei and Yennafer each competed in all three events the tournament offers – individual kata, group kata and full-contact kumite – a workload very few athletes anywhere take on.”

Balagtas won in both individual disciplines, taking victories in kata and kumite on top of the group kata debut, and Celis completed the trifecta in a single day: an individual kata victory in the morning, the historic group kata performance and then stepping onto the kumite floor in the All-Japan senior women’s division that afternoon.

“Every one of these results came against the deepest field our athletes have ever faced,” Chris Biolchino said.

Along with Guam’s triumphant foray into group kata competition, WKO Shinkyokushinkai Northern Mariana Islands’ Isaiah Orr, the youngest member of the team at just 6 years old, earned his first international fighting victory.

“It wasn’t a nervous debut, it was a genuinely strong performance from the first exchange, followed by a second-round fight where he again competed with real composure and spirit,” Chris Biolchino said. “For a child that young to walk onto the floor at Yoyogi National Stadium, in front of that crowd, and fight the way he trains at home – that’s the future of our program.”

Balagtas steps up

On the final day of competition, which featured the All-Japan U25 Women’s division, the tournament’s highest level of women’s competition, Balagtas, a first-degree black belt, walked onto the mat confidently. She won her opening bout against a Kazakhstan black belt and advanced to the quarterfinals.

“What stayed with me was how many audience members sought her out afterward to recognize her performance,” Chris Biolchino said. “When the crowd at a Shinkyokushin event in Japan applauds your fighting spirit, you’ve earned something no medal measures.”

Chris Biolchino said Balagtas was the only athlete in the delegation who won in both kata and kumite and competed in the group kata – three disciplines across two days, finishing with a quarterfinal run in the tournament’s highest-level women’s division. Alongside her, Celis carried the same triple load in a single day – a kata victory, the group kata debut and a senior kumite bout – the kind of complete karateka the WKO Marianas style is meant to build.

Joseph Biolchino, the branch chief’s son and a member of WKO Shinkyokushinkai Guam, fought his way to the semifinals of his kumite division, competing in full-contact fighting against an international field and winning bout after bout on the sport’s biggest stage. In a division where only the top two finishers received awards, the 11-year-old came within one fight of the podium.

“He is the youngest athlete on our roster to win in both disciplines, taking an individual kata victory that same morning,” Chris Biolchino said.