Karate South Africa Newcomer of the Year comes to Emalahleni

12-year-old Janko Erasmus received the best newcomer of the year title for Mpumalanga along with R10 000 prize money at Karate South Africa.

Janko is currently part of the Samurai Dojo in eMalahleni. His passion for karate arose in 2015 at the tender age of five.

Today he is 12 years old and a dedicated sportsman who knows that only hard work pays off. Janko’s discipline and dedication have awarded him numerous medals and trophies.

At the South African International School’s championships, he received a bronze medal for Kumite boys’ 12-13 years on September 16.

The following day he earned a silver medal for the KSA League championships boys’ Kumite 12-13 years in Wynberg, Cape Town.

Sensei Filip Houndalas who is Janko’s instructor commended him for his hard work and expressed how proud he was of him, “I am very proud of Janko’s achievements. He came from another style of karate initially just to train Kumite with me. They then decided to join our organization and had to learn everything from scratch. He has excelled so much in a relatively short time and I see a bright future ahead in his karate career. He is much disciplined and puts in a lot of extra training to be the best he can be ‒ Well done, Janko. Janko’s parents, Mr and Mrs Erasmus when asked about his achievements, emphasized that their son, Janko soon realized that success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. He lives by the motto: ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you’.”

“We as his parents are very proud of his achievements during the past year. It is continuous hard work and sacrifices from both him and us. Passion first and everything will fall into place – that’s his motivation. He is encouraged by his achievements and to be better than what he was the day before.”

Sensei Filip emphasized that parents who wish to also train their children with him, are more than welcome to reach out to him for inquiries at 066 296 8208.

E-mail: filip@eickhoff.co.za

Classes for beginners are from 18:00 ‒ 19:00 on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

Seniors are from 19:00 ‒ 20:30.

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