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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Korean Ambassador Taekwondo Championships roars into life today at the University of Zimbabwe with over 200 fighters set to participate. The event, being hosted by the Zimbabwe Taekwondo Association in conjunction with the Korean Embassy, is running until tomorrow.

And it is expected to also feature athletes from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique. The national association’s technical director, Peter Kembo, said most of the participants, including the visiting countries, are taking advantage of the championships to prepare for various international competitions lined up for next year.

“The numbers for this year seem to be bigger than last year. This time it seems people are very interested in this tournament. If you look at these guys they are taking this tournament as part of their Youth Olympic Games and African Youth Games preparations. So all the countries in the Southern Africa region are competing in various tournaments within the region. It’s an opportunity for us as well to assess our athletes because these are the same athletes we will meet in the forthcoming tournaments. It’s an advantage for us, we are hosting, we are at home especially with the financial constraints that we face, we cannot travel for such tournaments as much as we would want,” said Kembo.

The competition includes the children’s section, juniors and seniors. Kembo believes the coming in of other countries is a good indication towards the growth of the championships.

“This time we have more countries coming and we are looking forward to a bigger event. I think it’s a boost for us. In the past years it was difficult for us to host such tournaments, so for us its development because if we could not host on our own and the Embassy comes in it’s an exciting development for us. We are really happy,” said Kembo.

Kembo, however, said it’s not going to be an easy assignment with the visiting countries having an upper hand in terms of exposure.

“We are expecting a tough competition. These guys from Lesotho and the other countries compete in more competitions than us. They travel a lot so we are expecting a high level of competition,” said Kembo.

Some of the local athletes expected to be in action are Admire Tshitshiliza and Lewis Mataya who came out tops at the Beira Open in the finweight and featherweight respectively in August. Brenda Chaora, who was also part of the team in Mozambique, headlines the senior women’s section and she knows what she is up against.

“It’s going to be a tough championship since those countries have more experienced fighters. But I will fight to win, I will take each fight as it comes. I will do my best and I am expecting a gold medal,” Chaora said.