Karate team finish 9th in African Champs

THE national karate team made drastic improvement by finishing ninth in 19 country in the 14th African Karate Championships that ended recently in Morocco.Rwanda won two bronze medals courtesy of Slyvestre Twajamahoro and Rehema Kabera in Kata and Kumite men’s and women’s individual categories.It was good news for Rwanda’s karate after Dieudonné Mwizerwa successfully passed Judges’ examination in the grades of; Judge B -Kata and Judge B -Kumite. He is the only one in the region.There was no medal won in Kumite team category because Rwanda lost to Cote d’Ivoire in the finals after losing twice, drew once and won once 2-3, 2-4, 0-1, 0-0 and 5-2.In Kata team category, Rwanda lost to Libya in the semi finals and went on to lose the bronze medal to Sudan.According to Karate federation technical director, Guy Rurangayire, lack of experience and exposure are the reasons why Rwanda didn’t finish among the top three. However, Rurangayire said that finishing ninth is something to be proud of. “Slowly, we are going towards achieving the government’s target of being among the best teams on the continent,” added Rurangayire.Two years ago, Rwanda finished 15th out of 23 countries but this year, Rwanda emerged ninth in 19 countries which took part in the championship with Egypt taking the top spot.

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Karate team finish 9th in African Champs