Botswana Shine At Karate Championships
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 5, 2017 15:49
The men’s kata team also got a gold medal after defeating Cameroon with the same score margin in the final. Philip Raveka scooped a bronze medal in individual kata and kumite in the 16-17 years men’s category. Oratile Caiphus won a bronze medal in the men’s Under 75kg category. However, Mohammad Ali Hassan and Lemogang Koolopile failed to make it to the final. Mpho Bosenakitso was knocked out in the first round of his bout. Lame Hetanang and Thabang Setshego competed yesterday.
The 2017 UFAK championships are attended by 20 nations with 185 participants battling against each other. The championships end today (Monday). Shihan Mpho Bakwadi also passed his UFAK referees examinations. Meanwhile, Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) has won a bid to host the 2019 UFAK championships. BOKA was competing for the hosting rights against Mali, Burundi and Algeria. Speaking to The Monitor Sport from Yaoundé, BOKA president, Sensei Tshepho Bathai could not hide his excitement. He said winning the bid meant a lot to the association and the country. “This means we have to start building a good team to represent us in 2019. It means putting up a good show to market the country and building good relations with all stakeholders including the media above all our dream of qualifying for Tokyo 2020 Olympic games can be realised,” he said.
Bathai said they are going to embark on negotiations with Botswana National Sport Commission to lobby for their support. BOKA has sealed a deal with Egypt karate, who are one of the powerhouses when it comes to karate in the continent. Bathai said the agreement means they can send a team for benchmarking in Egypt to learn their systems of developing athletes, coaches, officials and governance in general.
“They have also offered to assist us with coaches and help us in coming up with efficient development programmes. We can also send a team for camping in Egypt, where they would have access to professionals (medics, athletes, coaches and support team),” Bathai said.
For his part, BOKA spokesperson Sensei Isaiah Ramontshonyana said hosting UFAK championships gives them an opportunity to compete in all categories hence increasing chances of getting more medals. He said hosting gives them a chance to get funding from World Karate Federation (WKF) and UFAK to purchase equipments such as mats and scoreboards.
Botswana Kofukan Federation president, Sensei Million Maswimbika retained his position as UFAK third vice president.
UFAK executive committee: Mesbahi Tahar Mohamed (president), Cherif Bechir (first vice president), Gaye Souleymane (second vice president), Nasr Elsayed Sayed (fourth vice president), Emmanuel Wakam (secretary general)