Students want to maintain proud karate record

THE NMMU-Madibaz karate squad will be protecting a proud record when they take on their student rivals in the University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament in Pretoria from today.

After finishing as USSA champions from 2010 to 2015, NMMU-Madibaz were the runners-up last year – and martial arts manager Bernard Petersen said the team would definitely be looking for a place at the top again.

“We have done considerably well over the last seven years, but we know the competition will be extremely tough this time,” he said of the karate tournament, hosted by Tshwane University of Technology until Sunday.

“We have a number of new karatekas in our NMMU squad and we are aiming at least for a top-three berth,” Petersen said.

Even with a degree of inexperience in their squad, he said the reputation the Madibaz team had built over the last decade would stand them in good stead in their objective to make another big impact this weekend.

While acknowledging that the varsity exams had provided a challenge to their preparations, he said the NMMU squad had been practising diligently to make sure they were in top shape for the event.

“Sensei Lucky Maxama, who is one of the top karatekas at NMMU, has worked very hard to prepare our students,” he said.

“It will be his first year as a coach, after previously being a student, and he and the squad are looking forward to the challenge.

“They have been in a camp this week, fine-tuning their preparations.”

Petersen said the Madibaz were sending 15 full-contact karatekas and three semi-contact fighters to the tournament”

“We are trying to promote semi-contact on the campus. The difficulty is that there are so many styles in semicontact, so it does pose a challenge.”

With full-contact fighting there was only one style – and the Madibaz teams had excelled in that discipline over the years.

Petersen named neighbouring Eastern Cape universities Walter Sisulu and Fort Hare as two teams who would be among their strongest challengers, while he identified several NMMU-Madibaz stars he felt could do very well.

“Karatekas like Njabulo Gumede, Masixole George, Lizeka Senti, Gratiano Ntokwenzani, Aviwe Tsewu, Nosipho Matika and Adre Weidemann will have important roles to play for us in the team.”

He said the USSA tournament performed a critical role in the development of the club.

“This event is the most important one on the university calendar for us and everyone prepares extensively for the competition.”