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By Ellina Mhlanga
THE Kyokushin Union of Zimbabwe will tomorrow hold their inaugural Karate Merit Awards in recognition of their outstanding members.
The awards-giving function, named “Arosume Properties Kyokushin Karate Merit Awards” for 2010, will be held in Mount Pleasant in Harare.
The event will see senior and junior karatekas being awarded for their efforts.
In the seniors’ category Kelly Mtisi, Lovemore Nyamutswa and Austin Mucheni are vying for the international best karateka award.
Mtisi is coming in as the favourite in this category after he was crowned king in the heavyweight category at the Ashihara World Cup Sabaki challenge last year in Durban, South Africa.
Malvery Muyambo will battle it out for the best regional karateka award against Nyamutswa and Mucheni.
However, Nyamutswa has better chances of winning the award in this category after putting up a good show at the second Kyokushin Union of Southern Africa Karate tournament held in South Africa last year in May.
Nyamutswa won a gold medal after he was crowned the overall winner of the regional competition.
The Harare karateka won the Open weight category title and he scooped a silver medal in the Under-80kg weight division in the same competition.
Liberty Musungo will battle it out for the best local karateka award against the duo of Kelly Mtisi and Austin Mucheni
Mucheni, Nyamutswa and Tendai Chaparadza are also vying for the best technical karateka award while Muyambo, Nyamutswa and Mtisi were nominated for the most disciplined karateka award.
In the juniors category, the race for the best local karateka will feature Chaparadza, Sly Karimadzimba and Marshall Siyamatanda.
Karimadzimba has also been nominated in the best regional category together with Tafadzwa Mushunje and Shelvin Mugoni.
Mushunje did the nation proud when he won a silver medal in the Under-10 age-group in the Len Barnes Memorial Kyokushin tournament held in South Africa last year.
The three will battle it out in the most improved karateka category.
KUZ technical director, Samson Muripo, said the awards, which will be held for the first time, will go a long way in motivating the karatekas.
“This is an inaugural event, the sponsor saw it fit to reward the karatekas and it will play a big role in encouraging the fighters because whenever they are involved in competitions they know that they will be rewarded at the end of the day,” said Muripo.