Kofukan wins as Hayashi-ha cries foul

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Monday December 13, 2010 00:00

 

Ahead of the tournament, BKF had been involved in an argument with Hayashi-ha about which style has the better karatekas.

After the competition, BKF spokesperson, Bose Caiphus said that his style accomplished what it had set out to achieve. On the other hand, Hayashi-ha was left licking its wounds and complaining about biased officiating following BKF clubs' domination of the Saturday event starting with the male team kumite. The first three positions in the category were taken by BKF clubs from Sir Seretse Khama Barracks, Glen Valley and Kagiso who tied with Shotokan's Dojo 20 in third spot. BKF's bitter rivals, Hayashi-ha, only won in the male team kata followed by UB Shotokan. BKF's Kagiso and Gaborone West (G-West) were joint third. BKF's Special Support Group (SSG) side won the female team kata and team kumite.

Meanwhile, Ofentse Bakwadi of Hayashi-ha said that he was disappointed at the way some officials had handled the competition. He said that some umpires were biased and this is not good for karate standards in Botswana.

'Referees make athletes fight amongst themselves because of the way they officiate.

They favour other athletes over others,' he said. BOKA president, Gift Nkwe urged karatekas not to be too emotional when they lose in local tournaments. He said that they should instead use the tournaments to assess their performance and improve wherever necessary. He said karatekas should learn how to conduct themselves in a proper manner in order to promote the spirit of the sport. He asserted that that winning the Saturday event did not necessarily mean an automatic call-up to the national team.

'Every BOKA tournament is used to assess our athletes and if they show consistency, then they would be considered for the national team,' he explained.