Japanese Ambassador’s Cup slated for next month

The Ghana Karate Association in partnership with the Japan Embassy will organize the third edition of the Japanese Ambassador’s Cup competition billed for November 7-8 at the Accra Sports Stadium.

The two-day championship organized annually as part of activities for the celebration of the Japan Anniversary will witness participants engaging in Karate, Judo and Kendo demonstrations with attractive prizes at stake.

The event, which is open to children aged 10-16 seeks to put the karatakers in shape and top form for future competitions.

The President of the Ghana Karate Association Melvin Brown revealed to the GNA Sports that, the competition targets about 150 athletes who will compete for honors.

He stressed ‘‘we need more of these competitions to put our athletes in shape. Because, if we compare Ghana to Egypt, there are a lot of schools engaging in karate but they have more competitions, so Egyptians are always on top of the game. So we need a lot of these competitions so that we will keep our athletes in shape and in top form’’.

Mr. Brown believes that, with the adequate competitions, facilities and funds, the sport will have a good future in the country.

‘‘It has a good future in Ghana with the needed support from government and corporate entities. We need to get good facilities and training materials and competitions to push our athletes. It is just like football, a player can have a good club but if he doesn’t have enough playing time, he will lose form and the same applies to karate. The athletes have already started training ahead of the tournament and looks forward for the event.’’ He noted.

The President of the Association called on Ghanaians to troop to the stadium and rally their support behind the athletes and urged corporate entities to support the discipline.