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YOUNG AND TALENTED . . . Some of the karatekas who represented Zimbabwe in Mozambique at the weekend prepare to plunge into action, flying the colours of their nation

Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S karate team put up a spirited fight to claim 13 medals at the African Union Sports Council Region Five championships in Maputo, Mozambique, over the weekend.

Zimbabwe Karate Union fielded 19 athletes in a tournament that featured five countries including Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique.

And, with their counterparts fielding more athletes, the team managed to pick three gold medals, two silver and eight bronze. The gold medals came from Tishana Sekerani in the 14 to 15 years 47kg and Anesu Karadzandima weighed in with another gold in the 14 to15 years girls kumite.

Alexandra Mandengenda had gold in the girls’ 54kg kumite.

Botswana topped the medals table with 43 gold, followed by Namibia with 11 gold while South Africa and Mozambique had six and four gold medals respectively.

ZKU technical director semi-contact style, Gerald Muusha, who accompanied the team, said they were grateful to AfricaBet for their continued support that enabled them to compete in Mozambique. The team received karate equipment from AfricaBet ahead of the tournament.

The firm first came on board last year to sponsor the Champion of Champions tournament to a tune of $10 000.

“Thank you to AfricaBet who sponsored protective gear, tracksuits and transport for the team in addition to the $10 000 previous sponsorship and supporting major tournaments since December 2016. “Were it not for their support, a large number of the team would not have been able to attend the tournament,” said Muusha.

The team returned home yesterday. In another positive development, former ZKU president Joe Rugwete was re-elected AUSC Region Five Karate federation secretary-general for the next four years.

He was elected unopposed during a congress held on the eve of the tournament in Maputo. “For me it gives me an indication country federations in Southern Africa are satisfied with the job I am doing.

“For the past 12 months I have been working on a high performance programme and capacity assistance programme. I put up a code of conduct, strategic plan, all of these were adopted during the agm.

“We realigned the constitution so that it’s in line with the provisions of the World Karate Federation. And I guess those are some of the things that pushed people to re-elect me unopposed.

“I started serving as the vice secretary for two years, then acting for one year and was elected for the last four years before I was re-elected for another four years,” said Rugwete.