Penyao Su of Els Karate’s passion for the sport is fuelled by coaching young athletes and competing in various competitions.
Taking her first baby steps into karate at the age of eight, she joined the Els Karate Club at twelve years old, and the same year she went to Italy for the Junior World Championships.
According to the 24-year-old, she took a few years off karate, but as she grew older, she decided to continue with it as it is a great way to learn self-defence and discipline and it builds character.
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“Karate refreshes my mind. A good training session is often my highlight for the day, and the sport also encourages fair play and not to use violence against others,” Su added.
She said one of her 2022 highlights is coaching juniors at the competition, giving them tips and advice that she gathered from her own experiences and advice she once received from her Sensei and coaches when she was young.
Els Karate recently won the ladies’ open championship title at the WSKF Federation, giving Els Karate the most medals with only 36 entrants.
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“I do not remember how many medals I have won over the past years, but the recent ones are from the WSKF nationals. Also, before and after pre-Covid, I used to compete with the university team at UCT (University of Cape Town), mainly at the all-styles Unicity Championships and USSA (University Sports South Africa) nationals.”
