Karatekas in trenches

The two-day event is slated for June 28 and 29 with the Southern Africa region countries expected to battle it out in various categories.

ZKU president, Joe Rugwete, said preparations were on course with karatekas training in their various provinces.

“We have a team in place that has been selected and preparations are on course. We have already sought clearance from the Sport and Recreation Commission and we are finishing on everything, that is the logistics and there is a team in Namibia working on accommodation.

“We have three members of ZKU, eight referees and judges who are going there for a course and 35 athletes are going to compete in individual and team events.

“There are 55 categories that will be competed in from the eight-year olds right up to the seniors and we are going to field athletes in the majority of them.

“Currently, they are training in their provinces but we are trying to make some arrangements for them to go into camp in Triangle where we had the national inter-styles championships,” said Rugwete.

Last year Zimbabwe finished second in the championships behind hosts Botswana and the ZKU president said they were hoping to continue with their good performance.
during this year’s edition.

“We will go in as number two, so we are hoping to retain the position or finish number one. We have got a competition this weekend at Prince Edward for the juniors, it’s like an inter-schools event organised by ZKU former president, Simba Chikutu.
“We are going to have the juniors in the Zone Six team taking part,” said Rugwete.