PE karatekas win world titles

All of 18 karatekas from the Steve and Karl Shorin-Ryu Shorinkan Karate Club in Port Elizabeth represented the national karate team at the World Martial Arts Games in Johannesburg recently. Some of the divisions the team took part in were kata, wooden weapons, bladed weapons, unison kata and open fighting (point scoring, continuous and kumite). “We have come back with a number of world champions, some in three or more divisions claiming a total of 58 medals,” a member of the group, Wuanita Tucker, said. Ten of the karatekas were awarded their national colours at the games. Those awarded colours are Richard Lawrence, Karl von der Marwitz, Steve Johnson, Reiner von der Marwitz, Erica Maritz, Wuanita Tucker, Tasneem Walters, Cayla Stuthard, Sitesh Pillay and Joshua Lawrence. A further three, Corrie Fourie, Duncan Krige and Shuaib Kieviets, were among the few selected at the games to form part of the president’s team. Those included in the development team were Jenson Allaway, Jarryd Matthews, Salome Malabane, Simone Venter and Nasele Sipamla.