National martial arts teams to compete in South Africa
Namibia’s national martial arts team will be travelling to South Africa to compete in the 2022 International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) Africa Championships, slated for Johannesburg from 28 to 30 April.
The 2022 Africa championships will be IMMAF’s first closed tournament on the continent, open only to amateur athletes from African nations. Participating nations include host South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In an interview with the media here on Thursday, Namibia’s martial arts team coach Carlos de Sousa said martial arts is a developing sport in the country which needs to be supported.
“We have amateur fighters who have prepared well for these championships. We are having a good feeling that while in South Africa, we can win gold medals, which will then open up doors for these athletes to qualify for the world championships, where athletes are signed up by the big organisations to fight as professionals”, he enthused.
He added that competing at big championships like the upcoming IMMAF will help in growing the sport in Namibia.
“The upcoming championships in South Africa will see Namibian athletes competing with other nations. Therefore, our athletes will gain more experience, exposure and learn how things are done elsewhere,” he said.
The coach also stated that apart from competing in South Africa, the martial arts body in Namibia will host its championships during the months of July and September 2022.
“We are going to have the Desert Storm championship that will see Namibians competing against other nations in Swakopmund, and this will be held on 01 July 2022. In September, we are going to host the King and Queen Championships in Windhoek, where the best amateur fighters will be recognised for their hard work,” De Sousa noted. Athletes travelling to South Africa on Tuesday for the IMMAF championships are Wys Landsberg, Damian Müller, Geraldo Bok, Carlos de Sousa (coach), Veja Hinda, Jason Beukes, Eduardo Platt and Ronaldo Feris.