Africa-Press – Kenya. Organisers of the Mombasa Open Tong-IL-Moo-Do International Martial Arts Championship want the event held in August to avoid the transport challenges they experienced in ferrying international officials.
Kenya Tong IL Moo-Do Federation president Clarence Mwakio said they encountered a lot of challenges ferrying international officials and safety equipment for the event due to the increased activities during Christmas and New Year festivities during the period.
Mwakio, who also doubles up as the president of the Africa Tong IL Moo-Do Federation, said that they will revert to holding the tournament in August instead of December.
“Kenya continues to be a role model for the world in developing the sport. We want to train more instructors for the game as we plan to have regional and continental games aside from this international one,” Mwakio said.
So far the sport has a presence in 12 African countries and Kenya, where it has been practiced for the last 35 years.
“In the country, we have more than 20 schools and clubs taking the sport. Our plan for Kenya is to have weekly clinics across the 47 counties so that we can get more instructors to develop the game further,” he noted.
Mwakio was speaking after the 11th edition of the Mombasa Open Tong-IL-Moo-Do International, where Kenya’s national team ‘Jasiri’ retained their overall title.
The three-day event held at the Agha Khan Gymnasium in Mombasa attracted over 200 participants drawn from 12 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.
Jasiri topped the medal standings for the 11th year in a row with 191 medals—gold (46), silver (42) and Bronze (93).
Zambia were second with 23 medals—ten gold, five silver and eight bronze medals while the Philippines came a distance third with 11 medals, five gold two silver, and four bronze.
Iran won four gold, six silver and two bronze as India won four gold and a bronze to settle for position four and five respectively.
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