Awesome foursome truly masterful
FOUR local karatekas were at the top of their game when they won medals at the Japan Karate Shoto Federation of South Africa National championships earlier this month.
Cameron Thompson, Jacque Heigan, Sivina Naidoo and Antoinette Heigan put in top performances in various categories to claim top places at the event held in Johannesburg.
“I was very proud of their achievements,” said Sensei Mervin Gounden of the Japan Karate Shoto Federation of the Eastern Cape.
“All the provinces from around the country in our organisation come together and compete against each other, so it was the best of the best and to do so well there is impressive.”
Taking part in the Kumite (fighting category) and Kata (forms category) the four all finished in the top three places in their various divisions, with Thompson claiming a gold medal in Kumite, Jacque Heigan a silver in Kumite, Naidoo a bronze in Kumite and Antoinette Heigan a bronze in Kata.
“There was an average of about 10 or 11 entries in each class, so it was very tough,” said Sensei Gounden.
“For these children, coming from the Eastern Cape, they did extremely well, coming up against entrants from other provinces who are quite advanced, which is great to see.”
The karatekas will now look to take the momentum gained from the nationals into their training as they prepare for two more big tournaments coming up later year.
“We still have two more big events – in Despatch in August and in Jeffreys Bay in in the October, so they will now be building up for those tournaments, and we are really looking forward to them,” said Sensei Gounden.