32 Bay karatekas at World Champs
THE South African karate team came out victorious at the Japanese Karate Association (JKA) World Championships, sweeping 74 medals at the competition held in the Netherlands recently.
South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay contingent was made up of 32 karatekas from the Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Despatch and Addo region.
The Bay’s junior boys and girls as well as the senior men and women took part in the traditional Shotokan discipline where every member of the South African team received a medal.
The SA team walked away with 17 gold medals, 30 silver and 27 bronze.
SA team manager Ian Janse van Rensburg, of Uitenhage, said: “The competition at the world champs was of a very high standard.
“The training was hard. It was not smooth sailing for us at all. The hard work and training paid off and I am really proud of the team.”
The South African team is currently ranked tied with Ukraine for the number one position in the world.
South Africa have also won the bid to host the next JKA World Championships, to be held in Uitenhage in 2019.
“The hard work begins now for us. The next two years will be solely dedicated to training and organising the event so that we display a spectacle for the world,” Janse van Rensburg said.