Date: March 11, 2017
Place: Banquet hall, Klerksdorp Town, North West Province, South Africa
Organizer: South Africa Branch Chief Thomas Sindephi Mayekani
Again, Shinkyokushinkai Matlosana under the leadership of Sensei Thomas Mayekani has hosted a very successful, well organized and well attended annual tournament, the 6th Matlosana Cup Karate Tournament.
The standard of this tournament continues to improve every year. The tournament has shown drastic kumite improvement in both junior (<18 years old) and senior (>over 18 years) fighters showcasing their best full contact karate techniques and skills. The junior fighters were the best performers of the tournament; they have showcased good combination and execution of kumite techniques with a lot of energy and determination.
The tournament has attracted a lot of fighters from different organizations across the country and from other neighboring countries. A total of 270 fighters registered for both junior and senior fighters. It was by far the highest number of participants in the history of Matlosana cup, with only 195 fighters participating in the 5th Matlosana cup, 2016. It was a very competitive tournament with all nine provinces represented. A team of four fighters from our neighboring country Zimbabwe, led by sensei Samson Muripo also blessed the tournament with their participation. Team Zimbabwe has officially become part of the tournament. We are grateful for the support they give us every year. The organizations that participated in this event were WKO Shinkyokushinkai, IKO Matsushima, International Kyokushinkai Karate Federation, Kyokushinkaikan, So-Kyokushin Zimbabwe and Kyokushin Sako Juko.
The host, Matlosana team, has performed extremely well, and managed to amass 37 trophies in total, with 36 of the trophies coming from the junior fighters. Zoleka Mahlaza was the heroine of the day for Matlosana team, obtaining 1st place in both the junior girls under 60kg and open divisions.
We are honored as North West Province for having managed to bring the best of the best on our shores to come and be part of this historic event. We would like to thank the sponsors for their contributions in making the event a success. We would like to thank all the fighters and their organizations including the spectators for making the event a success.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to the officials from different provinces and organizations for the good hard work and making the tournament a success. We believe everyone had travelled safe back to their homes and will continue to practice and train hard to become the best fighters and best karatekas.
The result of the 6th Matlosana Cup
