Goju-Kai karateka shine at national championship
Goju-Kai karateka Zaid Ely and Katelin Martin were crowned Male Grand Champion and Female Grand Champion, respectively, at the National Karate Championship held at Ongwediva over the weekend.
The two karateka, who are also members of the national team and recently participated in the All-Africa Games, performed their new katas with precision and technique that easily set them apart from other karateka.
The championship on Saturday, which was hosted in the northern region for the first time, saw a total of 187 karateka from central Namibia, the coast, the north-eastern region and the northern region competing in both kata and kumite.
Shihan Freddy Mwiya, head of Ongwediva Karate Zen, said the national championship was a roaring success in terms of the standard of karate.
“Unity prevailed in the federation and we achieved our goal to take the sport to the constituencies and reach the masses,” said Mwiya.
Mwiya added that the championships also allowed the Namibia Karate Union (NAKU) an opportunity to introduce a new scoring software system that is being used by the world karate federation.
“We are the first to try out this software system in Southern Africa and we are proud of this achievement,” said Mwiya.
The annual national karate championship was attended by President of NAKU, Cornelius Dalton, and chief referee of NAKU Sensei Wikus Oberholtzer.
Sensei Gert Husselman, the zone referee commissioner, was also in attendance along with Sensei Carl van der Merwe, the chief referee of Goju-Ryu.
The advisor to national head coach of NAKU and Goju-Kai 5th Dan chief instructor, Shihan Leonard Martin, gave a demonstration of a traditional kata as a prelude to the championship.
MERJA IILEKA
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