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An intense training regimen leading up to the country's premier national university competition paid off as WSU's karate team brought back a mammoth 18 medals from the Universities Sports South Africa (USSA) Karate Championships held in Vanderbijlpark recently.
With a total of 28 student-athletes having traveled to North West Univeristy-Vaal to compete at the championships from 27-30 June, the team managed to kick, punch and chop their way to securing six gold, five silver and seven bronze medals to finish second overall, only a single point behind Nelson Mandela University.
The team competed in the Full Contact Component under three categories, which included the development, intermediate, and advanced sections.
“The team did very well and I’m extremely proud of them considering that the majority were juniors and beginners in rank. Remember, about 80% of our members featured in the development section, while about 15% were represented in the intermediate and only 5% made up for our advanced section. With all that against us, we still managed to finish second overall,” said team coach, Sensei Khuthele Nonyashe.
Team manager, Sensei Phumza Khekhezwa-Mhani, was insistent in stressing the strict and careful selection process of the team ahead of the tournament, highlighting the four intense training sessions, from May to June across all four campuses, it took to train, assess, and pick the best of the bunch.
But beyond the invariable competitive bottom line, the manager shone an important light on the central ethos of the karate training regimen - to build character by teaching students of the sport to be polite, to stand in good posture, to take good care of themselves, and to be honest and be pure of heart.
One of the standouts of WSU’s success at the meet was final-year Public Management student and second-degree black belt, Lonwabo Manconba, who clinched a gold medal following his victory in the ‘Development Kata Males’ category.
“Winning was such an unforgettable feeling, one that I can’t shake off. Though I was up against other opponents, it felt like I was in a battle with myself in the eyes of another, because of the tremendous self-doubt and the nagging question of whether I have what it takes to conquer it all,” said Mancoba proudly.
His counterpart, a first yellow belt and second-year BEd student Esihle Nobedala was a picture of joy following her triple-medal performance which earned her two gold medals in the ‘Intermediate Kata Females’, ‘Knockdown’ (under 60kg) and a silver in the ‘Team Kata’ categories.
Nobedala said: “This success is all due to perseverance and dedication, as well as support from my teammates and instructor. They pushed and encouraged me to where I am today.”
By Thando Cezula
