Over 50 karateka from Grahamstown, made up of members from the Albany Karate Academy and the Rhodes University Shotokan Karate Club, will form part of the East Cape Shotokan-Ryu Team at South African Shotokan Karate Academy (SASKA) National Championships to be held over the weekend.
Over 50 karateka from Grahamstown, made up of members from the Albany Karate Academy and the Rhodes University Shotokan Karate Club, will form part of the East Cape Shotokan-Ryu Team at South African Shotokan Karate Academy (SASKA) National Championships to be held over the weekend.
The national karate champs takes place at the Fish River Sun, about 25km from Port Alfred towards East London, and will run from 9 to 12 July.The Grahamstown karateka will represent East Cape Shotokan-Ryu at the SASKA Nationals, which will include individual and team events. The team members took part in their final pre-training session last week.
East Cape Shotokan-Ryu, which comprises dojos in Fort Beaufort, Adelaide, Port Alfred, Kenton on Sea and Grahamstown is expected to be one of the teams which will compete for overall top honours at the championship. At the 2007 Championship the team placed second overall.
Championship organiser, Sensei Gary Grapentin, who is also head instructor at East Cape Shotokan-Ryu and Saska vice-chairman, said the East Cape Shotokan-Ryu will be hoping to improve on this position.