Good turnout for Shito-Ryu tournament
Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday September 24, 2025 06:04
The event attracted participants from Active Africa, Cracking, Dynamite, Kimberling, Topfight, Village, SSKB, Shitokai Academy, Socca Karate Academy, Profitness, Panther karate academy, Mogoditshane Center of Sport Excellence (CSE), Maxx and Letlhakane dojos. Shito-Ryu chief instructor, Sensei Union Kgafela, told SportMonitor that the tournament was successful with 350 entries ranging from four years up to seniors for both girls and boys, competing in kata and kumite.
“This was the 12th edition of this tournament, its focus is on development as part of BOKA’s mandate of encouraging its members to host championships as a way of keeping athletes active. The tournament was also meant to give young talent to showcase their skills and stand a chance to be selected into national teams,” he said.
“We wanted them to gauge their skills with their age mates in the mat. Also coaches had a chance to try our different techniques because in most instances they just coach at club level without getting a chance to implement the process.”
Kgafela said it was also interesting to see some athletes making debut in a competition format, to some it was good experience while others struggled.
He said young athletes are the future of karate, and having them in a high numbers in a tournament is an indication that clubs and academies are doing a good job.
“The challenge of organising a tournament of this magnitude is lack of sponsorship. We tried our best to look for sponsorship from the business community, unfortunately we failed. We were told that the economy is tough, making it impossible for the businesses to thrive and be able to assist sport.
“But we did not give up, with the support of the parents and other well wishers, we were able to pull it off. Hopefully, next time things will be better,” he said.
Kgafela said they also used the tournament to prepare for the 11th Shito-Ryu Karate Do international championships in Yokohama, Japan in September 2026.