Zimpapers Logo

Ellina Mhlanga Harare Bureau
THE Zimbabwe Karate Union will intensify their preparations for the Zone Six Championships scheduled for Zambia when they stage their National Interstyles Championships at the end of this month in Kwekwe.
The tournament is set for the last weekend of this month at Kwekwe Sports Club with all provinces expected to compete as the national association seeks to step up their preparations for the regional competition to be held in Lusaka from June 26 to 29.

ZKU president Joe Rugwete said they have already selected a team of 60 karatekas and 10 officials that will participate in the Zone Six Championships.

“We are having a lot of things that are happening, we have the technical appointments and those structures are in place and already functioning.

“We have the inter-styles championships on the last weekend of April at Kwekwe Sports Club that is also part of those preparations. And at least once a month members of the technical teams from all provinces will come and train with the technical director Paul Danisa who will be assisted by Eugene Moody and Simba Mazhata in Harare. Where we have the opportunity to go to provinces we will go.

“They will be upgraded on the new rules among other things and go back to their bases. They will have specific areas they will be focusing on.

“We started selecting the team a long time ago and we have a total of 60 athletes and 10 officials. We are hoping to send them all, it will be the juniors, seniors and females,” said Rugwete.

The ZKU president said they have a tough task ahead as they are expecting some stiff competition during the championships from countries such as South Africa and Botswana.

“We will be facing stiffer competition this year, the main reason is in the past year competing countries (within the region) have been sending their teams to Europe and Asia for further training and development. Botswana has been to Japan and are going to Egypt for camping and South Africa were in Greece for the World Youth Training Seminar.

“So us because of unequal opportunities in exposure we are concerned that all the guys have got an upper hand over us. We are not afraid but just concerned because we do not have the opportunity to do that,” said Rugwete.

However, Rugwete remained hopeful that the training camps will prepare the team for the championships.
“When we have the interstyles competition at the end of the month it will involve a training session where we are hoping the majority of the team members will be there and we will have two major camps in Harare,” Rugwete said.

Other countries expected to participate in Zambia are Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland.