Karate For All Ages Championship Ends In Lagos

The 8th edition of the annual Karate for all ages championship has ended in Lagos with more than 400 karatekas in attendance for the one day championship

The tournament held at the Gymnasium Hall of the National Institute For Sports (NIS), National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, was organised by Dojo kazain on behalf of The Nigeria Association of Shotokan Karate (NASK),

The karatakas who competed for honous in all the major styles of the game, expressed satisfaction with the biggest gathering of athletes in the country.

Initiator of the tournament, Ibrahim Muse, while commending all the coaches, athletes, states and clubs that took part in the championship said he’s happy with the progress made since the inception of the tournament which has produced both national and international champions for the country in the noble art of self defense.

“I’m happy that the tournament we started eight years ago is not only still running with great improvement but has now become a household name amongst practitioners of the game and athletes and coaches now look forward to participating in it every year
” It’s equally a thing of joy that it has helped in developing new talents, create enabling environment for healthy competition and also led to the discovery of national team athletes who have gone ahead to win laurels for the country at the international level.

Muse while appealing for more corporate sponsorship for the game of karate notes that he will continue to use the championship to improve the fortunes of the game in the country just as he announced that next year’s edition will be more glamorous.

In his remarks, Shihan Adedeji. O.Idowu noted that all practitioners are happy with the benefits of the tournament even as he gave kudos to the the initiator for the yearly event.

” As you can see, this is a very large gathering of karatekas. More than 400 athletes registered to be part of this event. Coaches and officials are also not left out and that tells you the importance of the championship which has helped in reshaping the game in the country”, noted Idowu who is a karate chief referee.

Also speaking, National junior coach, Kingsley Onuelu explained that the importance which athletes attaches to the championship made those that participated at the world championship in Egypt to be part of it; describing the benefit of the tournament as mmense.
He also expressed hope that at the end of the day, some junior athletes were discovered and will be nurtured to become future champions

Some of the athletes who spoke to our correspondent, also heaped praises on the organisers saying that the championship has given them adequate exposure.

” We’ re happy with what the organisers have achieved with this championship. It has enabled us to compete among ourselves and even among the best in our weight categories, learn more techniques and in some cases, new champions emerged while some retained their titles which is good for the development of the game”, they chorused.

At the end of the one day event, medals and certificates were given to the winners