Karate guru praises BKF

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Thursday August 26, 2010 00:00

The Japanese instructor who arrived in Botswana on Monday is a Kofukan seventh dan black belt and works in London as chief instructor. He visits Botswana annually to assess progress though he did not come last year due to a busy schedule. He said at a press conference on Tuesday in Gaborone that it is time to end the visits since Shito-ryu is now well-established in Botswana. Tomiyama is one of the pioneers of local karate with his participation in developing the game dating back as far as 1991. 'I am very happy to be here and it is quite visible that there has been significant development in the one year I did not visit,' he said. He said Botswana karate has achieved a lot over the years producing more than 50 black belts, four fourth dan black belts and one fifth dan black belt in Million Masumbika.

BKF Shito-ryu hosts competitions throughout the year. Some of the competitions attract karatekas from other styles. BKF is an affiliate of the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) and has karatekas in the junior and senior national teams. 'We also have an outreach programme where we send instructors to different parts of the country to spread karate,' said Masumbika, a BKF Shito-ryu chief instructor. He added that they are planning to organise an open tournament in Ghanzi later this year or early 2011 as part of the outreach programme.

Masumbika said another objective of BKF is to empower women. That is why they have recruited three women into the executive committee. One of the women is chairperson of the federation.

Despite the success of BKF, Masumbika side that it has not been smooth sailing as they have been struggling financially. 'We sometimes have to run activities without sponsorship and at times, we fail to run activities because of absence of sponsorship,' he said.

He added that BKF lacks people with adequate marketing skills to get sponsorship.

He said the other problem Botswana is facing is the mushrooming of different styles, which has affected standards. 'People should note that there are only two accredited styles in Botswana being Shotokan and Shito-ryu which have affiliates under them. Others (styles) are just formed out of emotion,' he said.