Maria Da Costa

Shihan Maria da Costa 6th dan, Started karate as a 13yr old in 1981. During her fighting career, she won many international titles in Point scoring and knockdown, wining the British Open 3 times and placed 3rd in the World Open Knockdown Championships held in Russia. Shihan Maria was one of the pioneers of full contact tournaments for Women in Great Britain, being the first woman to compete in knockdown the UK. She has and continues to be an inspiration to women karateka over the last three decades. During these successful years, she had three children who all now train and our successful karate exponents in their own right. Shihan Maria was the first female to obtain the rank of 5th Dan in the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) this was awarded to her by hanshi Steve Arneil in 2007. To her credit, she is the first known person to refuse to apply for a 6th dan as this went against her principles of how a rank should be awarded.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="8" gal_title="Maria"]