2017 Region 5 Karate

28 June 2017

 By Rowan Carstens |Team Manager of National Karate Team

The Region 5 Karate Tournament is held annually and is one of the Major events on the Namibian Karate Calendar. This year we were able to send a total of 49 athletes accompanied by 2 coaches, a team manager and 2 referees and one official.

Trial were held on the 4th of February 2017 with all NAKU Members invited and a selection panel was elected to do the selection process.

Teams left on Wednesday the 21st June 2017 at 5am. Although the pace was slow, they arrived ahead of schedule on the 22nd June 2017 in Maputo.

The officials had a seminar on Thursday morning the 22nd June 2017 from 9am until 1pm, which was a briefing for referees.

Friday the 23rd June 2017 was the official weigh in of the athletes doing Kumite.

The event commenced at 8am on Saturday the 24th June 2017, with the official opening at 12am and was attended by the Mozambican Minister of Sport and the Japanese Ambassador to Mozambique as guests.

The medal ceremony was the same Saturday evening.

Namibia placed second overall, beaten by Botswana. With a total of 17 Gold medals, 22 Silver medals and 17 Bronze medals thiswas Namibia's most successful Region 5 tournament in recent years.

The complete list of Athletes with Medals can be viewed under downloads.

The Namibia Karate Union would like to congratulate De Wet Moolman and Mayvonne Swart for winning their respective categories at the 2016 Namibia Sports Awards.

De Wet was crowned Sportsman of the Year after an excellent display of karate at the JSKA World Championship held in July 2016 in Swakopmund.

Mayvonne was also rewarded for her outstanding performance at the same championships in July in the category of Junior Sportswoman of the year.

The Karate Union was ecstatic to have 4 finalists in this year's event with De Wet nominated for Sportsman of the Year, Rowan Burger Junior Sportsman of the Year, Mayvonne Swart and Cassandra Knouwds as Junior Sportswoman of the Year. With Karate now also an Olympic sport, the Karate Union is planning to build on this success and become a force to be reckoned with in the Region, Africa and hopefully at international level as well.

All karateka are herewith informed that the Namibia Karate Union will be hosting National Trials for the selection of a National Karate Team to represent Namibia at the upcoming Region 5 Karate Championships to be held in Maputo, Mozambique.

Karateka are requested to contact their instructors regarding compulsory fitness tests and further information regarding the Trials.