Ninja students foil Aussie mugging

[Da Ji]

Ninja students foil Aussie mugging
Posted: 20 May 2010 2158 hrs
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="260"> <tbody><tr> <td align="right" width="20"></td> <td align="right" width="240">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="60" valign="top"></td> <td class="update" height="80" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="138">Photos </td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="47">1 of 1</td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="18"><input disabled="disabled" id="btnPrev" value="<< Previous" onclick="Prev();" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_previous.gif" type="image" height="15" width="18"></td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="19"><input id="bntPlay" value="Play - Stop" onclick="Play()" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_stop.gif" type="image" height="15" width="19"></td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="18"><input disabled="disabled" id="btnNext" value=" Next >> " onclick="Next();" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_next.gif" type="image" height="15" width="18"></td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Black belt ninjutsu instructor Kaylan Soto (C) trains ninjas in combat techniques at the Ninja Senshi Ryu (Ninja Warrior School) near Sydney </td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td class="update"></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

SYDNEY: Three Australian muggers who struck near a martial arts school got the fright of their lives when five black-clad ninjas foiled their attack. The trio, who were beating and kicking a trainee medic from Germany, fled in panic when the student ninjas aged 18 to 47 raced out of the nearby hall where they had been training.

"They all just froze," said Kaylan Soto, 42, who was training the students. "Then they just took off. I've never seen guys running that fast. They should have been in the Olympics -- they would have won gold."
Soto said the ninjitsu class was wrapping up late on Tuesday when one of his students went outside and saw the men attacking the 27-year-old German, who was near the end of an eight-week exchange visit.

"He called out to me, 'Sensei (teacher), someone's getting mugged on the road outside!'" Soto told AFP. "We just ran outside and started running at them, yelling and everything. These guys have turned around and seen five ninjas in black ninja uniforms running towards them. They just bolted." Police said two men aged 16 and 20 had been arrested over the attack and released a picture of a third aged between 15 and 17.

Soto said the German, who had his mobile phone and iPod stolen, could have escaped the beating with training in ninjitsu -- a Japanese martial art focusing on stealth, pressure points and weaponry. "For the attackers it was a very unlucky place to do it -- somewhere where you've got a martial arts ninja school up the road," he said. "You read stories like this but you would think it never happens. They just picked the wrong spot." - AFP/fa