NKZN Karateka dominate at the JKA Championships

The tournament also had a Special Needs Division, which saw three participants competing, and they all earned gold medals in their respective divisions.

March 3, 2018

Zianne Leibrandt 1 minute read

Women karateka show off girl power as they compete in the championships.

Local karateka dominated the mats as they participated at the Northern KwaZulu-Natal JKA Karate Championships this past Saturday, February 24 at the Farmers Hall.

According to Sensei Johan Swart, around 124 karateka have qualified for the National JKA Championships which will be held in Johannesburg in May this year.

“The competition was overseen by the South African JKA Tournament Director, Sensei Warren Bainton, who also tested the candidates wanting to qualify as judges and referees.”

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Regardless of nerves, the karateka performed well under stress and proved they were up to standard to participate in the South African JKA Championships.

The SA Championships will also serve as the trials for the Africa Cup, which is an international tournament which will be hosted by SA JKA in Johannesburg on September 1.

The tournament also had a Special Needs Division, which saw three participants competing, and they all earned gold medals in their respective divisions.

At the end of the tournament, it was Newcastle JKA’s Ettiene Campher who won the Men’s Open Kumite Division, while Trisha Rajkumar from Dundee was the Kumite Champion in the Women’s Open Division.

“An accomplished event such as this one cannot be possible without participants. These are the parents who support their children, the instructors, the judges, the referees, the table officials and the administration staff who all give up their free time to make it all happen. For this we would like to thank all parties involved who helped to make this tournament a success,” Swart added.

Karateka and staff also took the opportunity to thank Sensei Johan Swart, for his leadership and guidance as a head sensei.

For more information regarding JKA Karate, contact Sensei Johan Swart on 083 658 7157.