Edleen siblings 16-year-old Arnoldus (AJ) and 14-year-old Stefan van der Merwe were recently medalled at the 44th South African Goju-Kai Karate Championships which took place in the Madiba Sports Arena in Bloemfontein.
Petrus van der Merwe said the siblings are both members of the Gauteng team who competed against 11 provinces and regions and more than 622 participating contestants, in all the different disciplines of traditional Goju-Kai Karate.
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AJ brought home six medals including gold for senior male unison kata and junior male unison kata.
He also received silver medals in the junior male individual kata and a shared silver medal for the junior male Bunkai.
AJ rounded up his medal collection with two bronze medals for junior male kumite and junior male Jiyu kumite.
Stefan completed the event with five medals including gold for cadet boys unison kata, over 70kg kumite and Jiyu kumite.
He achieved silver medals in junior male Bunkai and cadet boys Individual Kata.
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“Both boys are eligible to be selected for the National Goju-Kai team that will compete at the World Championships in Japan during July/ August next year,” said van der Merwe.
“We acknowledge that these achievements come as a result of hard work and a lot of dedication, and we are looking forward to seeing how they progress toward achieving their next accolades in the sport of karate which they love and cherish so much.”
