Twenty-one members of the Russell Sim Karate Academy were recently selected to represent the Ekurhuleni District karate team at the Gauteng Provincial All-Styles Championships.
The event was held at the Orlando Communal Hall in Soweto on February 19 and 20.
This tournament served to choose the Gauteng team, which will represent the province at the Karate South Africa National All-Styles Championships.
The KSA U/21, Senior and Veteran Championships will be held in Johannesburg on March 4 and 5, while the KSA Children, Cadet and Junior Championships will be held in Durban from March 18 to 19.
Sixteen members of the dojo took top four positions at the Gauteng Championships and have been selected to represent Gauteng at their respective national championships.
The dojo won 24 medals in total, 12 of which were gold, three silver and nine bronze.
“In effect,” said Sensei Sim, the dojo head coach, “this means we have 12 provincial all-style champions from our school, and it shows that hard work and dedication to your craft does pay off in the long run.
“It has also proven to many of the competitors that hard work will always overcome natural talent, when natural talent doesn’t work hard,” he said.
“I am proud of all the members who attended the Gauteng Championships, whether they brought home a medal or not. It takes great courage to walk onto that tournament floor, and it can be a daunting prospect, especially for our younger karate-ka. They showed true commitment and gave everything they had. I am very proud of all of them,” Sensei Sim said.
By competing at the Gauteng Championships, the karate-ka have now earned their Ekurhuleni District Colours for Karate, and are looking forward to representing Gauteng at the nationals, so that they can earn their Gauteng All-Styles Karate Colours.
These achievements follow on from the excellent year they had in 2015, when 12 members of the dojo were awarded their SASCOC-approved Protea Colours for karate after representing South Africa at the African Union Zone 5 Southern African Championships, where they competed against teams from Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
