A young Richmond athlete and resident took home silver at a recent martial arts competition on Saturday.
Richmond Martial Arts and Josiah Kicks Academy athlete Logan Minshall competed in the Western Canada Martial Arts Championship at the BC Institute of Technology Burnaby campus and was scheduled to compete in the Under Six Point Fighting division.
However, due to his opponent forfeiting the match, the six-year-old was allowed to move up a competition category and competed against athletes ages seven to eight instead.
The McKay elementary student took home second place in his category after winning against teammate Samuel Eduardo Monroy but losing against eight-year-old Erik Musto-Bonilla from another gym.
Minshall lost his first match 6-2 after Musto-Bonilla landed "a good kick" that floored him right at the start, followed by a punch that knocked him "down good again," according to Kayce Hopwood, Minshall's mom.
"We thought Logan had bit off more than he could chew in this higher division," said Hopwood.
"I was quite worried."
Minshall bounced back up in his second match and won against Monroy 3-2. This paved the way for a rematch against the eight-year-old athlete for the gold medal.
He lead his final match 4-3 against Musto-Bonilla until the last five seconds when his opponent tied up the score. They went into a one-minute overtime, with Minshall losing 7-4, but taking home silver.
"Boy did he show grit to everyone there," said Hopwood.
"He has quite hurt that first fight, but he came back and almost took the gold. It was a true nail biter."
