ZIMBABWE karateka Senpai Brain Chiringa (second dan black belt) did the country proud after winning gold in the men’s Under 80kg of the inaugural All-Africa So-Kyokushin Karate tournament held in Chitungwiza at the weekend.
BY SPORTS REPORTER
Chiringa recently won another gold medal in the 2015 Shorin Kempo Kaikan All-Styles Full Contact in Johannesburg, South Africa. And at the weekend, he raised the Zimbabwean flag high again when he won another gold medal.
Chiringa said he met very good fighters and was delighted to win gold at the tournament.
“I am really happy to win gold. I met some good fighters and it was a good experience for me. I faced four opponents in the middle weight category to get to the final and I think my very first opponent from Swaziland gave me a tough time. You know the first match is always difficult because you will all be still fresh. It was not easy and I had to use my experience to knock him out,” Chiringa said. Sharleen Amoda won silver in the ladies open category.
“I was happy to win silver at this tournament where there were good fighters. But I was at the same time disappointed because I was expecting to win gold. I learnt a lot from this tournament. South Africans are good fighters – my opponent beat me to the gold medal, she was over 80kg compared to my 67k and I think that also gave her an advantage. But I will use the experience I got from this tournament to rectify my weaknesses for future tournaments,” Amoda said. Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland and Malawi were the participating countries.
