The KJK Judoka undertook a successful trip to the national trials in Bloemfontein on 3 February. Most of them finished in the top three places, with Willem Truter, Kyeren Bartman and Christelle Goliath winning the trials in their respective age and weight categories.
Willem participated in the African Senior Kata Championships with his brother Louis in Tunisia last year, where they won a bronze medal. This year, Willem won his category – Junior Men >21 years >73 kg in fine style.He has been working hard for many years and his motivation, discipline and ability to work very hard have resulted in him finally winning the trials. Willem has been practising judo for 14 years and is a versatile judoka, excelling in both fighting and the Kata.
Kyeren is a relative newcomer to the sport, although many people in his family have participated in it. He was really thrown into the deep end when he started doing judo 18 months ago, but with regular training and the support of his team-mates, his judo has improved tremendously. Kyeren won the category for Junior Men >21 years >100 kg.
Christelle is a slim girl with a big heart. Despite being very light, she won her category, Cadet Girls (15–17 years) in the >40 kg division.
All three judokas will be attending the African Judo Championships for Cadets and Juniors which will be held in Cairo, Egypt from 14–16 May.
Harm Venter and brothers Louw and Gerhard Schultz qualified to represent South Africa at the 2017 Senior African Kata Championships which will be held in Madagascar, from 14–16 April. Both Harm and Louw have had a taste of these continental events with Louw and another partner having won a bronze medal in Mozambique in 2012 for Kata, and Harm having won a silver medal in the African Cadet Championships in Morocco last year.
The club’s sensei, Katja Bruwer is very proud of her judoka. “To achieve these heights requires many hard hours of training, many sacrifices and parents who support their children 100 per cent,” she said.
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