adminThe gradings, which attracted 50 students, saw 20 senior and junior fighters being graded with the highest level being the first dan blackbelt.
National full contact styles technical director Tendayi Mutikani conducted the gradings together with sensei Tawanda Mufundisi and Mashonaland West Karate Association chairperson, Elijah Tambala. Some of the karatekas graded are Nicholas Muchatisi, Everisto Rwodzi and Tawanda Machida, who graduated to black belt level, bringing the number of IFK black belt holders to 10.
The youngest karateka to be graded was four-and-half-year-old Michael Deyera (orange belt) and Jean-Claude Mufundisi (6 years, yellow belt).
Paul Muguti (54) was the oldest student to be graded to blue belt and Rebecca Sanyamandwe was graded to orange stripe. IFK representative in Zimbabwe, Tawanda Mufundisi, said the style is growing and they now have karatekas in Masvingo, Chegutu, Kadoma and Harare.
“The response has been overwhelming. I think it’s because of our history in karate. We are going to the so-called forgotten towns and maybe in the near future we will be going to the rural areas as we continue to spread our wings throughout the country,” said Tawanda Mufundisi.
Mutikani shared the same sentiments and said they are also preparing for the UK Open Championships to be held from October 27 to 28 in London.
“There is a tournament coming up in October and we are hoping to send six fighters and three officials to London. Participants will be competing in lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions, so we are going to field two fighters in each category.
“We are going to select the fighters during local competitions which include the Japanese Cup.
“We don’t want a situation whereby certain individuals are guaranteed places in the team, so selection will be done according to performance. We have young talented fighters and we want to give them the opportunity to compete,” said Mutikani. Mutikani said selection will be done across all the full contact styles in Zimbabwe.
“This is an IFK tournament but we will take fighters from other styles.
“The idea is to bring all the full contact styles together.
“However, we are appealing to the corporate world for assistance because we need between US$18 000 to US$20 000. So far we have raised enough funds to cater for
two people,” said Mutikani.
Some of the fighters and officials will be going for grading to be conducted during the same tournament in London.
Online Reporter