Manjoro armed and dangerous

last two weeks attending a World Bino-ryu Karate Association training and grading camp in Hyderabad under the style’s Grandmaster, S. Srinivasan of India.
The 43-year-old karate instructor, who hails from Harare’s high-density suburb of Mufakose, left the country to attend this training and grading camp as a fourth-dan blackbelt holder in bino-ryu.
But he returned home at the beginning of this week holding a fifth-dan blackbelt following this intensive training and grading camp, which ran from March 30 to April 10 at the World Bino-ryu Karate Association headquarters in Hyderabad.
And this saw Manjoro, who shed some weight, losing about 7kg during the training and grading camp, becoming one of the most qualified and highest ranked karate instructors in Zimbabwe.
In fact, Manjoro now boasts of vast technical and organisational expertise in bino-ryu, a karate style, which originates from India.
Speaking to The Herald shortly after his arrival from Hyderabad on Tuesday, Manjoro could not hide his excitement about his latest achievement.
“For me personally I think that becoming a fifth dan blackbelt holder is quite an achievement because it’s one of the highest degrees to be confirmed or conferred on a Zimbabwean karate instructor.
“This shows that I’m growing in the style of bino-ryu and in the sport of karate in particular and this makes me a very proud man,” said Manjoro, who is the bino-ryu Chief Instructor for Africa.
The training and grading camp that Manjoro recently attended in Hyderabad attracted about 18 instructors from around the world and some Indian states who all practice the karate style of bino-ryu.
“The main advantage we had when we arrived in Hyderabad for this training and grading camp is that the World Bino-ryu Karate Association had just finished holding a seminar for summary of changes to the kumite rules.
“The seminar was conducted by Sensei Con Kassis of Australia who is also the chairman of the World Karate Federation referees’ commission.
“So, everything that was discussed and adopted during this seminar also became part of our training programme and our Grandmaster, S. Srinivasan, also introduced a new syllabus for us.
“He taught us some changes which have been made on the syllabus because they (the World Bino-ryu Karate Association) review their techniques after every two years,” Manjoro said.
Manjoro, who recently shifted his dojo (karate club) from Queen Elizabeth Girls High School to Empire Gym in Harare, said his main task now is to pass on the knowledge that he acquired in Hyderabad to his more than 200 students here in Zimbabwe.
“My main aim or task is to make bino-ryu the biggest karate style in Zimbabwe and that is why I recently moved my dojo from Queen Elizabeth Girls High School to a much bigger place at Empire Gym.”
To the average Zimbabwean, karate is a hobby or sport most associated with Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
But Manjoro, who is now a Shihan or master, is determined to make karate one of the biggest sporting disciplines in Zimbabwe through his expertise in bino-ryu.
But what is bino-ryu?
“Binot” is an ancient form of Indian fighting — without weapons — while “Ryu” is a system of defence against both armed and unarmed attackers hence the name bino-ryu.
When the style was introduced in India by its Grandmaster S. Srinivasan more than three decades ago, it adopted the traditional Indian methods of self-defence while incorporating the latest weapons and methods of Chinese and Japanese martial arts along with the recognised forms of Okinawan karate.
Bino-ryu concentrates on knockdown and kick-boxing techniques in free sparring hence this style can be considered one of the strongest and the finest form of self-defence ever to be practiced in the world.