Beauty
and the
beast
Twenty-four-year-old Castray, a FilipinoAustralian, was 10 when she joined the
vaunted Red Rangers to take up sikaran,
under 8th dan instructor Jesse Diestro, at
the team’s training gym in Sydney’s innerwest suburb of Campsie.
By Marilie Bomediano
Her mum and dad
Christina and John had
moved their daughter
from doing taekwondo.
“Pia immediately
demonstrated a natural
talent for the martial
arts,” Diestro recalls. “So
I put in more time for
her development as she
moved up the ranks.
“It was a pleasure to
teach her, a quick learner.
Pia would take up any
challenge, even holding
her own when sparring
against much older and
experienced opponents,
even boys.”
At14, Pia became
NSW age pointsparring and kata
champion, and at 17
she won the Australian
national women’s open
championship.
“I took her overseas
with a Red Rangers team
to compete in Canada’s
prestigious national
Golden Boy sikaran-
arnis open women’s titles,
and she returned with
championship trophies in
both sparring and kata.”
She was grand
champion at the
International Sports
Karate Association’s
World Cup which brought
together the best martial
artists from Ireland, New
Zealand, Korea, Egypt,
Nepal, Fiji, India, and
Australia.
Indeed, in her
early 20s, Pia became
recognised as Australia’s
undisputed queen
of sports karate in
Australia.
Upon earning her
1st dan black belt, Pia
became one ofiestro’s
training assistants as
she continued to train for
grading to 2nd and 3rd
dan.
She did film work:
Played the role of Talia Al
Ghul in an independent
Australian short film of
‘Catwoman’ directed my
Josh Newman, was in
At the age of
17, Pia won the
Australian national
women’s open
championship.
the cast of Red Herring
produced by Retro Future
Films and directed by Jim
Robison and Kurt Martin,
andwas featured in
Katana Flow, music video
by ShaoDow Music,
That was what Pia did
for pleasure.
Her education and
occupation involved
completing bachelor
of commerce degree at
Macquarie University,
qualifying into the
Institute of Chartered
Public Accountants,
and doing a Television
presenting skills course at
the prestigious National
Institute of Dramatic Art
(NIDA) and the Sydney
Actors Foundation.
Immediately after
university, she was
employed at Alleasing as
a business development
officer and then associate,
followed by a job as
account manager at
FlexiGroup Ltd.
Last May, Pia joined
British Airways and
moved to London.
GOLF
Golfers at caddy’s mercy
JOURNOS caddy
golfers again on
Sunday, December
6, for the 2015
Grace/Media Golf
Cup at Hudson
Park Golf Course
in Strathfield
NSW.
By RIC DE VERA
The 3rd Media Cup,
run by the Filipino
Press Group of Sydney
(Filpressyd), will be a
Stroke (drive and/or pitch)
format: The golfer’s drive
and/or pitch plus the
November 2015
caddy’s putts to determine
the tandem’s score.
It will be a golfer-andcaddy team playing, with
only the caddy to putt on
the green - a fun one-day
golf tournament.
Registration at the
golf course is at 7:30am,
tee-of bB