Rwandan karatekas Maic Shyaka Ndutiye, Khalifa Niyitanga, and Lucie Yezakuwe are hopeful they could make it through the upcoming world championships qualification tournament set to take place in Paris, France, from October 17 to 19. In Paris, the trio, led by national team coach Christian Kamuzinzi, will compete for spots in the 2025 World Karate Championships, in Cairo, Egypt, from November 27 to 30. National team captain Fiston Ntwali already qualified for the world championships after putting in a good individual performance at this year’s African Karate Championships, held from July 22 to 27, in Abuja, Nigeria. Yezakuwe, 19, a student at Agahozo Shalom, in Rwamagana District, will be the first female to represent the country in the upgraded format of the world championships qualification tournament. She will compete in the under-55 kg female Kumite category, a challenge, she said, brings both pride and motivation. “It’s an honour for me to compete in the world championships qualification tournament. It encourages me to do something for my country. We’ve been working hard in training. So, now it’s time to try and show what we’ve learned,” she told Times Sports. Shyaka, winner of Rwanda’s historic gold medal at the 2018 African Karate Championships, will compete in the under-60 kg male Kumite category. Currently ranked 168th in the world, Shyaka who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business information communication technology at Mount Kigali University, needs to break into the top 100 to secure qualification for Cairo. Niyitanga, a final year student at the University of Tourism, Technology and Business Studies (UTB) – hotel and restaurant management – will battle it out in the under-75 kg Kumite category. “We want to see all three in Cairo. We’ve been preparing together for this two-day competition, and they’re in good shape, we’re ready,” said Kamuzinzi. The competition format includes a group phase and an elimination phase. The group phase will feature a round-robin system, with group winners advancing to the elimination phase. The final six winners will then progress to the final phase of qualification. The team is scheduled to head for Paris on Monday, October 14.
