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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
AFTER leading the Kobudo revolution which saw Zimbabwe win over 100 medals in international virtual tournaments last year, Hall of Famer, Wilfred Mashaya, has set his sights on doing even better this year.
As the Covid-19 pandemic continued to ravage the world and disturbing sporting activities, Mashaya was actually flourishing with his ZimNinja Academy embarking on a massive recruitment drive which ultimately saw the institution winning over 100 medals.
It is a year in which Mashaya also introduced his son, Wilfred (Junior), into this sport and the six-year-old took the world by storm, winning 12 medals, including eight gold, a silver and three bronze.
Several girls, including Mitchel Rudanda, Danai Guyo, Thandiwe Chirindo and Sandra Gwena, among others, also joined the academy and won medals.
And Mashaya this year wants to score a first by recruiting people living with a disability and preparing them for competitions.
While other countries have people living with disability participating in international karate and kobudo, the case is different with Zimbabwe.
“It is against this background that we, as the ZimNinja Academy, want to recruit people living with a disability into the institution,” said Mashaya.
“Look, we have worked with them before but on a bit-part basis. We trained them the basics of self-defence last year when we partnered with the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation. “They were so quick to grasp things and we have been asking ourselves why we don’t also have people living with a disability participating in karate in international tournaments yet other countries have those athletes.
“We have seen that several countries are winning medals in those disciplines yet we are just relaxing, losing dozens in potential accolades which we should be winning with more effort. So one of our resolutions for this year is to recruit those people, train them and then enter them into competitions and we know we will not labour in vain.”
Mashaya, who was chosen by The Herald as one of the 12 Outstanding Personalities of the Year for 2021, said his academy is also aiming at winning more medals this year.
“You know the problem that we have always faced is that of lack of sponsorship. We would like to enter as many competitions as we can in 2022.
Online Reporter