Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenya Tong-Il Moo Do Federation president Clarence Mwakio expects tough competition from the Philippines and Iran during the Mombasa Open Championship on December 18-19.
The two countries are among the over 20 nations, which have confirmed participation in the annual tournament of which Kenya are the defending champions.
“These two teams are our biggest rivals with which we have always competed intensely in past competitions. In the Philippines’ case, we have been constantly fighting for the top spot for the past ten years. They have a competitive spirit and lots of experience within their playing ranks,” Mwakio said.
Nonetheless, Mwakio insists that Team Jasiri’s target remains to surpass last year’s medal haul when Kenya emerged top ahead of the likes of Turkey, Iran, Congo Brazzaville, South Korea, Zambia, Thailand, and Brazil, among others.
Our target is to perform better than we did last year. Of course, this will only be possible if we enlist more participants in all the categories. We will have six main categories in form, sparring, and special technique,” Mwakio said.
He added that their preparations are going on well and they are expected to go a notch higher when they report to the residential camp this week.
“We will be having a bubble camp in Kilifi this week and we hope to then move to the hotel where all the other participants will be staying in a bubble,” Mwakio said.
Mwakio added: “The competition will be held in line with strict Covid-19 regulations, especially in line with the emergence of the Omicron variant. Everyone will have to show evidence of a negative PCR test whereas every participant will undergo regular Covid-19 tests.”
So far, teams are expected to start arriving in Mombasa from December 12, next week, beginning with Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Japan, and Brazil.
The two-day championship at Aga Khan Multipurpose Hall will be graced by the founder of Tong-IL Moo-Do, great grandmaster Joon Ho Seuk and World Tong Il Moo Do Federation president Takamistu Hoshiko.
Mwakio described the presence of the two as a stamp of approval as far as Kenya’s reputation in the sport is concerned.
“It means that the top leadership of the governing body have confidence in us as a host of various Tong Il Moo Do championships. This motivates us quite a lot because hosting such opportunities means we can mould more players,” he said.
The federation will soon release a calendar of events in the hope that the coronavirus pandemic will have abated.
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