The team arrived in the Island country on Sunday evening to prepare for a tight schedule of events that includes competitions and training. Nihon chairperson, Sensei Karabo Samuel, explained they are affiliated to JKA adding the style is a new organisation established four years ago. He said locally, they have two tournaments they run namely Day of the African Child and another held in August which is a closed event, being style specific. “During the August event, we have a gashuku (training camp) where we host the JKA Sub Saharan Africa regional director, Shihan Daniel Gombe sent by the headquarters in Japan,” Samuel said. “On the international space, we have attended the Africa JKA Cup, since our formation, it was held twice and we attended both editions.
On our first visit we sent athletes and second edition we sent athletes and officials, an indication that the organisation is growing.” He revealed that they will attend standardisation seminar, course classifications which means some members of the team will come back as qualified instructors, qualified judges and qualified examiners. Samuel said there will be a tournament where the members will officiate in and gain exposure that they will bring back home to develop the sport. Nihon acting chief instructor, Sensei Dr. Keone Kgorotlhe said the team has trained hard for the tournament as they have long dreamt of the event. He explained that when the team gets into competition in Mauritius, they must remember that they are not alone but the entire Nihon is behind them. “Go out there, learn, network and built friendships with other contestants. If you win, win with dignity and that does not mean you are special than others,” he said.
