Next week, all roads will lead to Francistown for the annual the International Ryushin-kan karate Do tournament which promises to be a talent identification and development exercise.
The International Ryushin-kan karate Do and the old mine Karate Club in partnership with all karate clubs in Francistown and surrounding areas will be hosting the first Francistown end of year open karate championship for all young athletes from the age of five years to 21 years on November 22.
Whilst the venue is yet to be announced later on this week before the tournament, Sensei Johnson Agisanang said preparations are well under way.
“We will be hosting about ten karate clubs from all over the country at this year’s challenge,” he said. “This tournament will not be a qualifier for any major tournament, but rather a series of friendly fights amongst the best young local karate kids,” he said.
“Unfortunately we do not have any sponsors for this grassroots level talent identification and development exercise,” Sensei Agisanang added.
He said karate is growing as a sport in Botswana, as evident from the last Africa Youth Games.
Some of the karate kids who are expected to make headlines include the likes of Lentle Tanyala, Louis Madibela, Trishia Modongo, Ronald Jakoba and Letlhogonolo Mogana. According to Sensei Isaiah Ramontshonyana, these are karate kids who performed exceptionally well and brought home gold medals in their respective age categories from the International Ryushin-kan Karate Do karate championships that were recently held last month in Cape Town, South Africa.
