Young karatekas get black belt upgrades

Saturday by upgrading four promising young karatekas who practice the bino-ryu style.
Carlos Manjoro (16), Munyaradzi Manjoro (18), Tinotenda Magasu (16) and Christakis Vlahakis (10) all received their full colours from S. Srinivasan at an upgrading session which was held at Queen Elizabeth Girls High School in Harare on Friday.
Munyaradzi Manjoro, Magasu and Vlahakis are now all second dan blackbelt holders in the Indian karate style of bino-ryu.
Their colleague, Carlos Manjoro, had a provisional first dan blackbelt but was confirmed as a full blackbelt holder following the upgrading session which was held under the strict supervision of S. Srinivasan.
Shihan Jairos Manjoro, who is now the chief instructor for bino-ryu in Africa, said the upgrading of the four young karakekas by Grandmaster S. Srinivasan showed that the style has a bright future in this country if not in this continent.
“This (the upgrading) also means a lot to them as it shows that they are growing in the sport of karate and it was a great honour and a privilege for them to be upgraded by non-other-than the style’s Grandmaster who came all the way from India to decorate them,” Jairos Manjoro said.
The local bino-ryu style now has a total of 13 first and second dan blackbelt holders following the upgrading of Carlos and Munyaradzi Manjoro, Magasu and Vlahakis.
And Jairos Manjoro said the elevation of these four young karatekas would go a long way in establishing bino-ryu as one of the best karate styles in Zimbabwe.
“If you look at their ages, they are all young, age and time are still on their side and they still have more room for improvement in this style.
“What we now need to do is to keep on encouraging them and I can see in them karatekas who can represent Zimbabwe at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“In fact, the elevation of these youngsters is a good investment for us and we’ve to invest in them by giving them all the necessary support they need in this sport,” Jairos Manjoro said.
The bino-ryu style has more than 200 students who are currently practicing it in Zimbabwe and Jairos Manjoro was convinced that the number will “double or triple up” in the next three years.
“After the Grandmaster’s recent visit to Zimbabwe, our main priority now is to make sure that the style grows in this country by introducing it to other cities and towns.
“For example, our patron, Rose Peters, suggested that we should also take the sport to places like Mutoko because there’s a place she knows there where its people are very keen to learn martial arts.”
Jairos Manjoro said they were also looking at staging an All-African tournament in the next three years “because by that time, I think we’ll have the resources to host it”.
He also said that he is likely to go back to Hyderabad in India later this year for an advanced training programme for international instructors of the bino-ryu style as recommended by Grandmaster S. Srinivasan.
“The training programme is called ‘The Bino-ryu Senior Instructors’ Training and Grading Programme’ and it will be held over two weeks in Hyderabad where the bino-ryu style’s association is headquartered.
“All the top international instructors of bino-ryu are required to attend this programme which will be conducted by the Grandmaster himself,” Jairos Manjoro said.