TUT student finally lives his karate dream
A local karate ace has finally gotten a chance to compete overseas after seven years of waiting for sponsors to fund his trips.
Tshwane University of Technology student Scelimpilo Buthelezi’s dream to compete overseas has come true.
This Soshanguve campus karateka will travel to Poland next week to compete at the 7th World Karate Championship tournament.
Buthelezi will represent WKO Shinkyokushinkai karate African region and South Africa at the tournament.
Buthelezi said that collecting maximum points in the local tournaments he participated in, got him a slot in this tournament.
He said his dream of competing internationally had been delayed due to a lack of funds since 2015.
“I am very happy. I was shortlisted for several trips but my trips weren’t successful. I was supposed to go to Russia, Switzerland and other countries but had no money for these trips,” he said.
He added that karate as a sport is overlooked and finding sponsors was hard.
“But this year, I managed to get sponsors and everything was covered. An organisation paid for my accommodation and TUT Sport covered my flight tickets and visa application,” he said.
He said his hard work, passion, dedication and never giving up was the reason why he got another opportunity.
He said going overseas was the dream of all karate fighters.
“We used to talk about Japan because karate originated there. So every person who joins karate has a dream of competing overseas,” he said.
Although Buthelezi does not earn any money from karate, he said it did not stop him from competing because it was his dream and he continues fighting to compete abroad.
“My dream came true at last. One day, when I have my gym, I will tell my students this story and it will be an inspiration to them,” he said.
Buthelezi revealed that he’s not going to get paid in this competition either.
“There’s no money – only trophies and medals,” he said.
Buthelezi will fly to Poland on September 21. The competition starts on September 23.
He said he was ready for this competition. He hopes it would open doors for the competition to take place in Japan next year.
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