Karate students take top honours
LINKSFIELD - Sempai Jesse Sim and Gia van der Merwe of the Linksfield Primary Goju Kai Karate School have been awarded Protea colours.
Both performed well at the Karate South Africa national championships earlier in the year, and based on their achievements they were selected to represent South Africa at two prestigious World Karate Federation tournaments.
Van der Merwe was selected to represent South Africa at the Zone 6 Karate Championships which was held in Namibia in June.
This tournament saw her going up against opponents of 10 other Southern African countries, including Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola and Zambia.
She held her own and was rewarded a bronze medal for kumite, a fantastic achievement considering the calibre of karateka she was up against. Sensei Russell Sim, who is an A-class referee for Karate South Africa, also earned his Zone 6 refereeing qualification and has now been selected to referee at the World Karate Federation African Continental Championships in Tunisia in September. Sempai Sim was selected to represent South Africa at the World Karate Federation Youth Cup in Corfu, Greece in July.
The youth cup included countries from all the European and Middle Eastern states, as well as some as far afield as Russia and Australia.
This is the second time Sempai Sim has achieved his official Protea colours for karate, having already represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Karate Championships held in Australia in 2011.
