Date: March 3, 2018
Place: Banquet hall, Klerksdorp Town, North West Province, South Africa
Organizers/host: South Africa Branch Chief Thomas Sindephi Mayekani
Shinkyokushinkai Matlosana, North West Province, has again hosted a very successful, well organized and well attended annual tournament, The 7th Matlosana Cup karate tournament. This year, we had 334 competitors in both junior (<18 years old: 221; 76 Girls and 145 Boys) and senior (≥18 years old: 28 Women and 113 Men) categories. It was by far the most number of participants. In 2017 we had only 270 fighters for The 6th Matlosana Cup, while 195 fighters participated in The 5th Matlosana Cup in 2016. The tournament is growing every year, and has attracted a lot of fighters from different organizations across the country. Organizations that participated were WKO Shinkyokushinkai South Africa, IKO Matsushima, IKKF, Kyokushinkan, Shorin Kempo and IKO Matsui from the Eastern Cape Province.
The Matlosana team, which hosted the tournament; managed to ascend the podium 45 times to collect silverware which was not easily won because of the tough competition. The team managed to make a clean sweep in several divisions, with all four winners emerging from the local lads. One of the highlights of the tournament was witnessed in the under 60 kg male category, where Joseph Nkhathu eliminated three seasoned and most lethal fighters from KZN, until Mohau Boihang stopped him and as a result he ended up being position 3 in that category. Neo Kumalo also knocked out 2 former champions to end in fourth spot. The three mentioned fighters represented our district (Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Mucipality and City of Matlosana Local Municipality) very well. The North West Provinces was well represented, collecting 51 trophies (45 from Matlosana, 5 From Mogwase in Rustenburg and 1 from Ga-Rankuwa).
We are honored as North West Province for having managed to bring the best of the best in South Africa to our shores, to come and be part of history where all provinces had representation. We thank all the participants (instructors/coaches, referees, competitors, spectators and parents) from different provinces and organizations for making the event a great success that it was. To Twinz Hair Salon and Mr. Joel Papalagae, we thank you so much for the refreshments and catering sponsorship.
The Matlosana Karate Team, would like to extend our gratitude to the City of Matlosana Local Municipality, the Department of Education and the Department of Sports Development for partnering with the local Matlosana Shinkyokushinkai organisation and making the event a resounding success. With the kind of support we get even from the government officials who graced our event, we have no doubt that we can and do more to develop our youth through sport.
The 7th Matlosana Cup Karate Tournament results
