Botswana Kofukan Federation (BKF) hosted their annual Kofukan Schools and Clubs youth national karate championships in Francistown over the weekend.
The tournament that was staged at Montsamaisa Junior Secondary School on saturday pitted local junior karatekas from different schools and clubs across the country from under 13 to 21 years.
It was contested in both individual and teams (Kata & Kumite) events which also featured seniors who were competing in weight categories.
The northren region tournament organiser and representive Sensei Otto Tafa said they have been impressed by the turn out of clubs and schools especially in the 10 to13 years category were they officiated more than 60 kids in both Kata and Kumite.
“Our style is growing day by day more especially at development level because we had a category that pitted 62 kids aged between 10 and 12 years which took 2 hours 45 minutes in a capacity of 2 rings and it produced quality athletes who need to be monitored at close range. And we managed to identify our athletes’s weaknesses and strengths and it is a green light for us. Now we know where to focus and tighten,” he said.
Team SSG and and Glen Valley dominated the tournament in both individual and team events in all categories with Francistown outfits :Donga CJSS and Mater Spei college leading the schools section.
Centy Kgosikoma and Oratile Nkumisang headlined the females division scooping gold in their respective ties while Kabo Mosienyane and Tefo Zacharia were the center of attraction in the boys section in Kumite.
Tafa further said that since they had a dull act in Kata categories they intend to strengthen the department by improving kids’ kata skills which is also a key aspect to karate development.
“There was less interest in Kata this time around and it was a wake up call to us instructors to see what we can do to revive the kids’s interest in Kata because Kata is part and parcel of karate as a whole. We will be hosting more tournaments in our efforts to gear up for Tokyo 2020. Its not a secret that Karate is one of the good perfoming code in the country and there is nothing that can deter us from bringing a medal at the highest stage in the world,” he added.
Karate was recently added in the Olympics sport set up alongside the other four sporting codes which are bound to make their debut for the first time in history at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan
Meanwhile SSKB Karate club headed by Sensei Peter Molefe is set to depart for Cape Town, South Africa on Friday to compete at the SA national invitational open tournament.
