| jp |
| quote: | Thugs pick wrong target - a karate instructor
07.09.2004 12.00 pm
A karate instructor's trip to Fiji was about to get ugly, but not for him.
Unfortunately for the six attackers, they had picked on the wrong guy -- a fourth dan blackbelt in karate.
Craig Nordstrand, 47, had just beaten off four of the attackers. The other two had unsuccessfully had a go at his mate Peter Roche.
After taking an initial beating, the six backed off and surrounded the pair.
Nordstrand tried to give his attackers a warning. "Do you want karate?" he asked.
One of the robbers did, but it was a bad mistake.
"I kicked him straight under the chin and into the throat," Nordstrand said. The gang of thugs scarpered into the Suva darkness.
The incident last week had followed what had been a pleasant evening of a meal and drinks.
Nordstrand had been in Suva with several Northland youngsters for the Oceania Karate Championships. He had been walking back to the team hotel with New Zealand manager Peter Roche when two men approached them asking for money and then another four emerged from the shadows.
Nordstrand's exploits made radio news in Fiji and proved a popular talking point around the karate traps.
"It was a bit of excitement," he said from his Whangarei home yesterday.
Aside from the attack drama, the trip was a success for Nordstrand who had watched two of his Northland charges win Oceania titles.
Several others won medals.
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