Ekurhuleni all-styles karate team shines
The seven brought home 14 medals from the tournament
Seven members of the Ekurhuleni all-styles karate team, which includes residents of Edenvale, Linksfield and Bedfordview, recently attended the Karate South Africa Elite and Open All-Styles Championships held in Durban.
The championships took place from July 15 to 16.
The championship consisted of two separate tournaments, the Elite Championships, which is only open to the top six ranked all-styles karateka in the country, and the SA Open Championships, which is open to all brown and black belt karateka in South Africa.
Jesse Sim, Bulumko Dwanya, Priyanke Reddy, Aerton Webster, Kaylee Naidoo, Thando Nxumalo and Leventhren Reddy were all invited to represent Gauteng at this prestigious tournament.
The seven brought home 14 medals from the tournament, five gold, five silver and four bronze.
Jesse Sim, Bulumko Dwanya and Kaylee Naidoo re-affirmed their number one ranking in South African all-styles karate by medalling at the Elite Championships.
The unison kata team of Bulumko Dwanya, Thando Nxumalo and Aerton Webster also maintained their number two ranking and Jesse Sim’s unison kata team also maintained their unbeaten streak by winning gold again.
Being the number one ranked unison team in South Africa, Sim’s unison team represented South Africa at last year’s WKF World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Sim also represented South Africa in the boys 16-17 individual kata division at the same tournament.
The World Karate Federation (WKF) has now been recognised as an official Olympic sport and all these young hopefuls are now aiming at making the SA Olympic team for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
“We are very proud of them,” said Russell Sim, head coach and Edenvale resident.
