The Sunday News
Wilbrought Ndlovu/Natasha Sipindiye, Sunday News Reporters
FIVE young karatekas from Bulawayo are appealing for financial assistance to attend and compete in the UFAK Region South Karate Championship in Harare.
The competition is scheduled for 5 to 11 June. The Shukokai Karate Academy in Tshabalala is seek funding for the five invited young karatekas who are three boys and two girls, Pritchard Zimuto, Anthony Zikhali, Shayne Manyathela, Nicole Sibanda and Princess Muparangi, who are aged between 10 and 11. Each of the five requires US$260 and in total the amount is USD$1 300 for transport, accommodation, food and competition fee.
Chief Instructor of Shukokai Karate Academy Branco Manyathela said it was pleasing that the young athletes were invited but the challenge was that they do not have the financial resources to fund the trip.
Zimbabwe National Karate Federation
He said it was difficult for them to attend most of the competitions since most of them were funding themselves as they have no sponsorship.
He said the competition was a good platform for the young athletes to be exposed to the outside world and for them to get composure.
“The challenges we face is that all tournaments and events that we attend, we self-fund for example, last year in July we were invited to Kwekwe to compete in the JKA Invitational Championships 2022. The other challenge is that we have inadequate equipment to use, most of the equipment is very expensive, for example, for the Region 5 Championships they are supposed to use body protectors and they are 1 200 rand each,” said Manyathela.
He said the Shukokai Karate Academy started operating in 2020 and his vision was to grow and spread the academy to other provinces.
