05 Feb 2018

Coaches of the Under 21 and junior karate teams face a selection headache as they seek to assemble a formidable team for future national team assignments.

This comes after the karatekas started the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) national team selection championship on high gear at the simultaneous tournaments hosted by the association in Lobatse and Palapye over the weekend.

In Palapye over 150 young karatekas filled the BIUST Multipurpose hall to impress the national team scouts while over 200 karatekas crammed the Lobatse Civic centre to try their luck.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Palapye tournament, BOKA publicity secretary, Isaiah Ramontshonyana said the criterion used to come up with the best of the best was elimination process for the junior teams.

He said the top four karatekas from each region will be called into a pool of players for camp where national team coaches will start the process of selecting the final team to fill up the slots available.

He said the two tournaments come in handy as the association was preparing a team for the closely contested Region 5 tournament to be hosted by Botswana in May.

Hot on the heels of the zonal championships are the Junior Africa Youth Games in Algeria and the Youth Olympics.

Medalists from the north and south will descend on the BOKA Dojo (training centre) on March 17 to fight for the final berth.

In Lobatse, the Saturday (February 3) tournament which started in the early hours deep into the night produced some raw talent.

A mouthwatering competition in the kumite category for the U21 was already on the cards pitting together the likes of Teto Wakwena and Thebe Duna among others.

However the spectators were disappointed when the bouts were cancelled owing to time constraints.

However the likes of Phillipe Revaka, Mohammed Ali Hussein, Kevin Kereemang and Setso Rasesia amongst others should expect tough opposition from the north.

The female junior team selection is also spoilt for choice with Gomolemo Mabolokane, Entle Maungwa and Tshegofatso Mangadi in a mean mood against their opponents.

The boys’ 12-13 years individual kata is one interesting category to watch going into the finals as Martin Motseke, Setso Sebina, Loago Mokotedi and Louis Madibela have been giving an impressive showing throughout the years.

Botswana has been impressive in the regional tournament edging out favourites South Africa and Zimbabwe.

In the last edition hosted in Harare, Botswana came out tops followed by South Africa. ENDS