Karatekas dream of ruling world champions

Joe Omondi (in red) presents medals he won at the Indo Pacific World Karate Championships in Port Louis, Mauritius to Radiance Academy Director Mercy Kibe. [Ben Ahenda, Standard]

Medal winners at the recent Indo-Pacific World Karate Championships in Port Louis, Mauritius, have set their eyes on more glory at the World Karate Championships.

They karatekas included Joe Adrian of Radiance Academy, Peter Nyagah of Racetruck Primary School, John Omondi of Nakuru Day Secondary School and Emmanuel Wanjohi, all members of Skylife Karate Club in Nakuru city.

While getting back to rigorous training, they said lessons learnt in Mauritius, where they represented Kenya in the global event, were enough to overcome opponents in forthcoming international assignments.

Kenya finished second in Africa with 23 medals behind South Africa as Russia emerged as the overall winners.

Adrian won a silver medal in kata and a bronze in kumite, all in the Under 13-14 category, as Peter Nyagah swept the board to win a gold medal in the same age bracket.

Adrian thanked his coach, Michael Obura, for all his achievements and vowed to do better in forthcoming international championships.

“If given another chance like this, definitely I’ll win more medals,” he said.

Radiance Academy Director Mercy Kibe was delighted with Adrian’s performance.

“We have a Karate Club here in school, and Adrian was the only one who managed to fly to Mauritius. We are happy he came back with medals, which goes down well with the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC),” Kibe told Standard Sports.

At Racetruck Primary School, Peter Nyagah received a warm welcome from students and teachers led by headteacher Daniel Kimani who said it had brought fame to the school.

Nyagah said, “I’ll try and do better in subsequent international assignments while hoping to become a karate coach someday.”

Kimani said he’s determined to have more karatekas produced at the school.

On his part, John Okoth, who is the Japanese Karate Association (JKA) Africa Under 18 kumite champion, added two more medals to his gallery.

Omondi won a gold medal in the Under 21 (18-20) Junior Elite kata and a silver in kumite on the same age bracket as Wanjohi, who returned home with a gold in kata and a bronze in kumite, all in the 9-10 age category.