While Botswana has not really been a pronounced sporting nation in Africa, she has started to show sparks of the talent that abound in the country.
Karate and Kobudo may not be as prominent as football but it serves just as well on the world stage when the sport is regarded as the traditional homestead of certain Asian nations.
Botswana’s Karate team has continued the country’s winning streak at the inter-continental level in Spain where it won nine medals in a day at the 8th Hayashi-Ha International Championship.
They won two Gold, four Silver and three Bronze last weekend on the first day of the two-day Karate & Kobudo event (July 29-30) in Barcelona.
Ofentse Bakwadi won Gold in the Senior Male Individual Kata while Mohammed Hussain, Motlhomi Makepe and Kagiso Mophuting won in the junior (14-15 years) Kata team category.
The Senior male Kata team won Silver as well as the 14-17 years kumite team. Ahmed Ali Hussain also won Silver in the 12-13 years individual Kumite while Kagiso Mophuting won Silver in the 14-15 years 79kg category.
The bronze was won by the 10-11 years boys Kumite team, Phillip Revaka in the boys 16-17 years Kata category and Motlhomi Makepe in the 14-15 years Kumite 52kg category.
This win follows the national team’s sterling performance in Mozambique in June at the Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region V championships where it won 65 medals. It lead South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola.
Two weeks earlier, the Senior team won seven medals at the UFAK Africa Karate Championships in Cameroon.
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