World Karate Federation honours KSA president
Sonny Pillay was honoured at the Karate World Cup in Germany.
THE World Karate Federation (WKF) honoured Kyoshi Sonny Pillay, president of National Federation Karate South Africa, with a 8th Dan black belt rank recently.
The rare accolade was bestowed on the South African karate legend by WKF President Antonio Espinos at last weekend’s World Cup Karate 2014 in Germany.
It is believed that the special award is the first ever made to a South African karate master and the only one awarded to a person of Indian origin in the world.
On witnessing the awarding of the rank, president of Karate Association of India (KAI), Ragupathy Thiagarajan, paid glowing tribute to the South African maestro.
He said: “Master Sonny Pillay has brought honour to us Indians across the diaspora with the achievement of this prestigious award of 8th Dan Rank.
Kyoshi Pillay believes that the special award of 8th Dan rank bestowed on him is indicative of the World Karate Federation’s serious recognition of Karate South Africa’s progress as a whole.
“I consider this 8th Dan rank award as the highlight of my 47 year karate journey. I dedicate this honour bestowed on me to all the unsung karate heroes such as Jam Mohan, Raku Naidoo, Robbie Reddy, Glen Popham , Patrick Plum, Jerry Skosana, all now late, among several others. I really do believe that I am because of them,” said Pillay.
