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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
FORMER karate world champion Samson Muripo and teammate Naison Chituwa left the country on Wednesday for Shanghai, China, to take part in the World So-Kyokushin International Cup, which starts tomorrow.
The two-day tournament will run up to Sunday, with a galaxy of karatekas expected to battle it out in the lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight and open weight categories.
Muripo will fight for honours in the heavyweight category, while Chituwa will compete in the open weight category.
The Kyokushin Union of Zimbabwe were hoping to send five karatekas, but ended up sending just two due to lack of funds.
The other fighters that were scheduled to go are George Mutambu, Austin Mucheni and Likhwa Khumalo.
KUZ technical director Kumbirai Musinami said the two fighters were expected to arrive in China yesterday.
“We had only two tickets so we managed to send sensei Samson Muripo and Naison Chituwa.
“We decided to send one senior and one junior. I think they will be arriving in China today (yesterday).
“Naison is still much younger; he has a bright future and great potential as well. He is a champion locally. We are trying to open up opportunities for him to get into the international tournaments, while sensei Muripo and George Mutambu are still there so that he can learn from them.
“We are trying to blend the old and new although finances are unfortunately not allowing us to go as far as we would have wanted,” said Musinami.
Musinami said their financial challenges were demoralising athletes as they would have prepared for the events only to be dropped at the last minute.
“It affects our karatekas, their spirit get dampened but I want to commend our team because they are quite resilient. Hopefully, if these two we sent perform well it will lift the team’s spirit.
“The tournament starts on Saturday with the preliminary rounds and the semis and finals will be on Sunday. Hopefully, the Zimbabwean flag will be still flying high,” said Musinami.
The KUZ technical director said although Muripo did well in Bulgaria where there were various kyokushin styles, this weekend’s event might be a tough one.
“In Bulgaria it was a different organisation and all those organisations were kyokushin. It brought different schools of thought together. This one is So-kyokushin and it’s very tough.
“Muripo is a known fighter, so everyone would want to beat a (former) world champion. It’s not going to be a walk in the park, it will be difficult for him as well,” Musinami said.
Some of the top countries expected to compete are Russia, Japan and the hosts.
Online Reporter