KJK kids shine bright at National Championships
The KJK Judo Club had some of their best students walk away with top honours in the South African Schools Championships.
Some of KJK Judo Club’s best students walked away with top honours after competing in the South African Schools Championships.
The event, held on 7 and 8 October at the University of Johannesburg campus in Soweto, saw over 600 children in the six to 14 years age group compete against each other to earn their qualifications in judo. The championship is divided into two tournaments, namely the Novice Tournament and the Advanced Tournament.
The Novice Tournament encourages children who have not yet qualified or have not competed on a national level to take part in the competition, while the Advanced Tournament is for children who have qualified and contested on a national level. Youngsters competing in the Advanced Tournament are usually ranked players and each tournament extends over a single day.
Front: Tyla Stacey-Hale, Ruhan Terblanche and Oabile Molefe. Photo: Liziwe Mbha
Oabile Molefe from Ridgevale Primary School, Ruhan Terblanche from Laerskool Roodekrans, Shawwal Bagaria from Randpark High School, Tyla Stacey-Hale from La Salle College, and Ruan Delport from Hoërskool Florida all walked away with gold medals for their respective divisions.
Oabile started judo last year and the SA Schools Novice tournament is his first tournament. He took home a gold medal in the competition after having competed in numerous smaller district tournaments where he achieved mixed results.
Shawwal had a successful judo year as she won a gold medal at the SA Open Judo Championships in Bloemfontein and later won a gold medal at the SA Schools Tournament for Advanced Judoka. Unfortunately, it will be Shawwal’s last year competing in the SA Schools tournament as she will be too old to compete in the event from next year.
Tyla recently won a gold medal and became SA Champion at the SA Open Championships held in Bloemfontein earlier this year, ranking first in her age and weight category in Gauteng. Tyla capped off her year by winning another gold medal at the SA Schools tournament for Advanced Judoka.
Ruan took home the gold medal in the Advanced Tournament. He further won a bronze medal at the SA Open Championships earlier this year.
Ruhan is by far the lightest competitor in his age and weight group as he weighs a mere 28kg, and competes in the 34kg category (the lightest category in the competition). He won a silver medal at the SA Open tournament in Bloemfontein, and recently won the gold medal at the SA Schools tournament for Advanced Judoka. He is also ranked first in his age and weight category in Gauteng.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
