Over 3,000 international karate stars from across Africa have indicated interest in taking part in the forthcoming Nigerian Association of Shotokan Karate (NASK) Championship slated to hold from August 29 to September 1 at Victoria Island Lagos.
The karate training tourney tagged ”Training with the champions,” according to the organizers, is an initiative, which started in the year 2000 to help sharpen the skills of karate stars at the international and grassroots level.
Two best and most accomplished non-Japanese instructors, Sensei Andy Sherry (9th Dan) and Sensei Frank Brennan (8th Dan) have assured that they will be on ground in the four-day event to conduct international training for the young Karate stars.
Participants drawn all across the country, which includes Ghana as well as Franco phone West Africa countries would join their Nigeria counterparts for the programme. The world class training would also be used to announce the date for any participant who perform well to test for black belt grades of first to high 6th degree. The Shotokan association stated that the Karate tourney would assist exposure Nigeria stars to compete favorably with their counterparts outside the shores of the country.
International instructor, Sensei Andy Sherry started his karate training in the early ’60s under Senseis Murakami and Mochizuki.He became a black belt in 1966, the very first person in Great Britain to be awarded such a rank in Shotokan karate. Sensei was the KUGB’s first Kata champion in 1967, the next year, 1968, he became the first grand champion by winning both the Kata and Kumite events.
These achievements were the start of a now legendary run of successes in his national and international championships. He first won the EAKF European Kumite title in 1968, and then went on to win other individual European Championship titles and countless team events as a member of British and England teams.
His counterpart , Sensei Frank Brennan was born in 1960. He started his karate training in 1973 under the tuition of Andy Sherry. His first international appearance was with the KUGB squad in the European Championships in Sweden in 1978, where he came second in the Senior Kata event. The next year, in Belgium, he won both the Senior Kumite and Kata events to become Grand Champion of Europe at the age of 19, a feat he achieved several times.
