Karate is his daily bread
Kum Achu (29) of TUT Nelspruit received the campus' prestigious Sportsman of the Year award on November 1, making it four in a row. He was also nominated as runner-up for the Central TUT Sports Award in 2012.
He is a final-year BTech student in internal auditing at the Nelspruit campus and has already been accepted to do his master’s. He hopes to acquire his Phd in the next four years.
Achu is a member of Shotokan Karate SA and has been training with Sensei
Piet Venter (fourth dan) at the White River Dojo since 2008. He is originally
from Cameroon and came to Nelspruit in 2007. “I have been doing martial arts
since 2002 and the sport is big in my home country, but is not given recognition
by the authorities.” In 2009 he represented TUT in the Eastern Cape and was
awarded a central award as best academic sportsman. A year later he competed in
the Shotokan Karate SA Nationals in Cape Town and got silver.
“I hope to go
to international events –
I have a vision to succeed.”
Achu formed a
shotokan karate dojo at the local campus of 11 students and performs the
function as head and trainer. He is also the coach of the semi-contact karate
team to represent TUT at the University Nationals in Durban during December.
“Sensei Venter made me what I am today. He has built me and because of him,
I am able to face the world today,” said Achu. His coach admires his dedication.
“He was a bit wild when he started, because he has done lots of different
types of fighting like boxing. He is proud, but humble and he has perseverance
like no other,” said Venter.
In five years’ time he sees his athlete as a
level-three dan coach. “I also hope that a finance company will see his amazing
skills and appoint him. He will be a asset to any company.”
Achu is not
interested in other sports. “I love martial arts. My interest for this sport
generated from home in Cameroon in 2002 from a former classmate. He was doing
wrestling at the time and he was feared by everyone as Cameroon is well known
for many rape incidents. I have a younger sister and at times I wondered how I
would ever be able to protect her. And that is how it all started.”
He wants
to thank Shotokan SA that he is able to excel and to show himself; the regional
head at TUT and once again a special thanks to his coach.
“Kum, we salute you
for your achievements and may you only go from strength to strength. – Nelspruit
Shotokan Karate.”
