Kyalami karate students start competition season on a high
Kyalami Karate students began their first competition of the year with a bang by scoring big during the challenge.
Kyalami Karate students kickstarted their first competition of the year with a bang.
The students, who are also members of the Shotokan-ZA National Squad, recently took part in the Eagles Challenge in Pretoria.
The Eagles Challenge, hosted by Sensei Rudi Bruwer, is an All-Styles Karate Tournament which creates an opportunity for the 10 WUKF affiliated federations in Gauteng, doing shotokan, goju-ryu and shorin-ryu, to compete against each other.
The Shotokan-ZA National Squad is preparing for the 2025 WUKF World Karate Championships to be held in Denmark and competing in selected competitions is an important part of their preparations for these championships. These competitions are also taken into consideration when the final Shotokan National Team for the championships is selected in June.
Sensei Mari du Preez said, “The squad members started their world championship training in September 2023 and I am very excited to see that our students are already on fantastic form at the start of the year. The dojo reopened on January 8, which means they have only been back at training for a little over a month. I am looking forward to a very successful competition season. The next competition will be the Samurai Inter-Dojo Competition on March 9 and I expect another stellar performance by the Kyalami students.”
The students did not come back home empty-handed Aiden Fleuriot received a gold medal for Kata and bronze for Sanbon Kumite while Christos Prokas got bronze for Kata and gold for Ippon Kumite.
These are the competition results.
- Emilie Fleuriot: Bronze for Kata
- Jordan Trow: Gold for Kata and Gold for Nihon Kumite
- Ketara Pillay: Bronze for Nihon Kumite
- Kiash Mkkano Harilal: Silver for Kata
- Rachael Jacobs: Bronze for Kata
- Joshua Mynhardt: Gold for Kata and Bronze for Nihon Kumite
- MJ du Plessis: Silver for Sanbon Kumite and Gold for Ippon Kumite
- Pieter du Plessis: Silver for Nihon Kumite
- Kritvi Mistri: Silver for Kata and for Sanbon Kumite
“I am very excited to see that our students are already on a fantastic standard at the start of the year, as they have only been back at training for a little over a month! I am looking forward to a very successful competition season, ” said Du Preez.
For more information on the Kyalami Shotokan Karate dojo, visit their website at www.kyalamikarate.co.za.
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