06 Feb 2014

The Botswana Karate Association will host the north/ south junior championships qualifiers in Francistown and Gaborone on Saturday, February 8.

The championships, which are expected to draw a considerable number of young karatekas, would take place at the Civic Centre in Francistown while the BOKA Dojo in Gaborone will be the centre of attraction.

Junior karatekas will compete in kata and kumite categories to qualify for the finals of the championships penciled for the second week of March where a pool of athletes will be selected to the national junior team which will take part in this year’s Zone VI tournament slated for Zambia in June.

BOKA publicity secretary, Jerry Ditlhong said though this year is not a busy year for the junior team, they are expecting impressive results from the two tournaments lined up for the young karatekas.

Last year the team travelled to Tunisia for the Africa Cup in August represented by Khaya Groth, Tirafalo Tsimamma, Katlego Tsenene and Tsholofelo Maduma. The latter has since graduated to the senior team.

Phillipe Revaka and Gomolemo Mabolokane have also been part of the junior team structures and are expected to grace tomorrow’s qualifiers.

They also took part in the closely contested World Karate Junior championships hosted in Guadalajara, Spain. Ditlhong explained that the junior team is already in camp for the 2nd Africa Junior Games which commence in May. As part of the preparations they will travel to Durban for the WKF sanctioned Karate One Premier league. ENDS