BOKA holds regional selection tournaments

Lekopanye Mooketsi | Wednesday February 12, 2014 12:42

 

But we managed to meet this target last year,' he said.  He expressed optimism that if they push their development plan, they could attain the goal of winning a medal at a world event before 2018.The event involved karatekas between 8-20 years. The finals will be in Gaborone in a fortnight, with the top four winners in each of the six age groups from the two regions contesting against one another. The selection tournament, which was contested by both male and female karatekas, covered the youth aged from eight to 20 years.  The participants were divided into the following categories; 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15, 16-17 and 18-20. The participating karatekas were competing in kata and kumite.

 BOKA officials said over 100 karatekas from the southern region took part in the Gaborone tourney. The Gaborone Dojo near National Stadium was a busy arena on Saturday, as karatekas spent the whole day exchanging blows. One of the top karatekas who took part in the tournament was the World Karate Federation ranked Khaya Groth.  As usual, he did not have any difficulties in brushing aside his opponent.  Some of the young karatekas had to be rushed to hospital as they incurred injuries during fights. One girl suffered arm fracture.  BOKA secretary general, Ezekiel Seru said the Botswana team will be selected after the finals.  He explained that karatekas in the 8-13 category will not be part of the national team.  He said this age category was only included in the tournament for exposure and practice. 'The team will be focused on the 14-20 age group.

The youngsters are just here for development,' he explained.'We will be picking karatekas for international tournaments from this team.  Our focus is to have a team with a data base from 14-20 years.Karatekas who have been picked for the forthcoming Africa Youth Games  (AYG) participated in the weekend tournament,' Seru said.

'We invited them to use this tournament as a practice match,' he added.  BKA president, Million Masumbika said the Gaborone tourney was a success. 'We had a lot of participants.  The organisers did a good job.  I thought technically, they were going to be a bit down due to the festive season, but they were just fine,' he said.  Masumbika said the karatekas in the 14-20 age category are doing very well.  'This shows we have a feeder team for the national team,' he said. The BKA president said only medal winners in the finals will participate in regional championships.  'While the idea is to have the best, we have set a target that by 2018, we must win a medal in world championship.  In 2012, we set ourselves a target that by 2015, we must have an international judge and coach.  But we managed to meet this target last year,' he said.  He expressed optimism that if they push their development plan, they could attain the goal of winning a medal at a world event before 2018.