Sensei and student selected to compete in world cup
Alyssa van der Merwe will be joining sensei Leon van Niekerk at next year’s Funakoshi World Cup Championships in Japan.
Krugersdorp’s up and coming karate kid, Alyssa van der Merwe and sensei Leon van Niekerk are set to participate in the Funakoshi World Cup Championships next year.
Sensei Leon with his student Alyssa have been selected for the South African JKA (Japan Karate Association) Team that will compete in the 13th Funakoshi World Cup Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
This will be the fifth international tournament Alyssa has been selected for. The Krugersdorp High School Grade 9 pupil started doing karate in 2004. She received her first black belt just after her 12th birthday in 2010 and her second black belt in 2013 at the age of 15 years.
She also boasts with a gold and silver medal that she received in Sao Paolo in Brazil in 2008, and she acquired an overall fifth place in the JKA World Championships in Thailand in 2011. In her spare time she enjoys playing hockey and also does water polo for Krugersdorp High School.
Alyssa has brought home a total of six international medals in her JKA career. She has been training under sensei Leon since the age of seven, and also has her second Dan that she obtained in March this year at the age of 15. “This definitely will be a major highlight in her karate career,” says sensei Leon.
Alyssa is looking for sponsors to contribute towards the costs of her participating in the championship next year.
For more information or to join sensei Leon at the Krugersdorp Karate Club, contact Charmaine van Niekerk on 083 630 7174 or at lvnkarate@karateclub.co.za.
