New York Natives ‘Punch Up’ U.S. Team at International Karate Championships
Nearly 600 athletes from around the world to compete at
 5th World University Karate Championships, August 3-6
Long Island University hosts – at Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center in Brooklyn – newest collegiate sports center in metropolitan area

Brooklyn, N.Y.  – Three natives of the New York City area are adding punch to the American team at this week’s Fifth World University Karate Championships. Members of the trio vary among each other nearly as much as do the approximately 600 international athletes on the roster for the biannual tournament, being held at Long Island University’s new Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center in Brooklyn.

Beginning Thursday through Sunday, teams from more than 50 countries, including China, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia and Spain, will fight for a total of 155 medals. Participants, who have qualified through earlier competitions, are between the ages of 17 and 28 and enrolled in or recent graduates of a college or university program.

The USA National Karate Federation team includes two Queens residents and a native of Hyde Park on Long Island now living in Ohio.

William Finegan, 25, an ardent fighter who has also won boxing’s Golden Gloves award, is an eight-time, USA National Karate Federation champion and winner of the Pan-American championship in 2003. He won a bronze medal winner at the Second World University Karate Championships held in Kyoto, Japan, in 2000. The native of Little Neck, Queens, began taking karate lessons at age nine. A shy child, he found caring instructors in karate who helped him achieve discipline, confidence and self-mastery. Today, he teaches karate while studying law.

Eighteen-year-old dynamo Ashley Hill is a typical teenager but also a five-time national champion and winner of the New York state title and the junior Pan-American championship in 2004. At the Championships she will compete in the women’s form and fighting categories. She began learning karate at age six in Hyde Park, Long Island, where she was born and lived until several years ago, when she moved with her family to Chillicothe in south central Ohio. This fall, she will attend Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she plans to major in athletic training.

Cheryl Murphy, a 27-year-old resident of Jamaica, Queens, New York, is a reigning USA National Karate Federation champion in fighting. The only black member of the U.S. team at these World University Championships, she observes that it is unusual for black athletes to compete on the national level despite the fact that many study the martial arts in local dojos. She trains and teaches youngsters in the Hollis neighborhood at the Harakenkojuku Martial Arts and Wellness Center and teaches karate-based fitness to local youngsters struggling with obesity, diabetes and asthma in a health and lifestyle program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. As a graduate student at Long Island University, she also is pursuing her master’s degree in community health. She fell in love with karate at age six through an after-school program at the Cross Island YMCA. She credits much of her success to her single working mother, who will attend this week’s tournament as a volunteer.

(Photos of the athletes are available. For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact the Office of Public Relations at [718] 488-1015.)

Event Background
The biannual World University Karate Championships previously have taken place in Lille, France (1998), Kyoto, Japan (2000), Puebla, Mexico (2002), and Belgrade (2004), in what was then Serbia-Montenegro. The event is sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee as well as by the International University Sports Federation, the World Karate Federation, the Pan American Karate Federation and the USA National Karate Do Federation.

Long Island University will host the tournament in its $45 million, 112,000-square-foot Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center, which is the newest collegiate sports arena of its kind in the metropolitan area. Designed by New York-based Arquitectonica, the Center features a 36,000-square-foot sports arena, where the Karate Championships will be held, in addition to an eight-lane swimming pool, a therapy pool, a fitness center and a rooftop running track and tennis courts.

Long Island University
Celebrating 79 years of access to the American dream through excellence in higher education, Long Island University is a multicampus, diverse, doctoral institution of higher learning. One of the largest and most comprehensive universities in the country, it offers more than 600 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs and certificates, and educates more than 28,000 students on six campuses in Brooklyn, Brookville (C.W. Post), Southampton, Brentwood, Rockland and Westchester. The Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences prepares students for successful careers in the fields of pharmacy and health care. The University’s Friends World Program offers a wide range of study abroad options in North America and at overseas locations. More than 650 full-time faculty members provide outstanding instruction, which is supplemented by internships and cooperative education opportunities. The accomplishments of more than 157,000 living alumni are a testament to the success of its mission – providing the highest level of education to people from all walks of life. The University’s NCAA Division I and II athletic teams, nationally renowned George Polk Awards in journalism, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and Long Island University Public Radio Network (WLIU-FM and WCWP-FM) provide enrichment for its students and the communities it serves.

The Brooklyn Campus is distinguished by …

dynamic curricula reflecting the great urban community it serves. Distinctive programs encompass the arts and media, natural sciences, business, social policy, urban education, the health professions and pharmacy, and include the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, the Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics, the D.P.T. in Physical Therapy and the Pharm.D. in Pharmacy. A vibrant urban oasis in downtown Brooklyn, this diverse and thriving campus offers academic excellence, personalized attention, small class size and flexible course schedules. In 2005, the Campus opened a new performing arts complex, which includes the 320-seat Kumble Theater, and in 2006, a $45 million Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center, both of which serve the Campus and the community.