2015 has been described by the Guyana Karate College as the one which provided lots of positive prospects both in and out of the Dojo.Senior instructor of the Guyana Karate College Sensei Jeffrey Wong, in an invited comment, said “2015 was an interesting year for Karate at the Guyana Karate College. We had a lot of pluses from this year in that a lot of our students excelled, especially at the youth level and we are proud of this.”
“A major part of our 2015 was our participation in the International Karate Diagaku’s World Cup in Toronto Canada,” Wong contended.
Guyana finished second in that Championship which was held at the Ryerson University from July 15 to 19, 2015 where the competing countries included Canada, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, Philippines, Jamaica, Antigua and Puerto Rico.
Trinidad won the World Cup with 46 gold medals and Barbados came in third with 36 gold medals. Altogether 33 members from the GKC attended this event and were named the best supporting group at this event capturing 38 gold medals.
On day one the Guyana Karate College gained 12 gold medals in Team Bunkai. With day two came nine more gold medals in team Enbu and day three, nine gold medals in team Kata and five gold medals in individual Katas.
Wong also thanked their major sponsors GT&T, Digicel, Gafoors, Demerara Harbour Bridge, Giftland Officemax, Guyana National Bureau of Standards, Republic Bank, C&V Shipping, Pritipaul Singh, MACORP, Guyana Forestry Commission, Engineering and Construction Inc., Hand-in-Hand Mutual Fire Ins. Co. Ltd, Camex Ltd, Bosai Minerals Group, RK Security, Apex Insurance, Citizens Bank, National Hardware, MP Insurance and Bettencourt’s.
He also noted that over 100 students had been graded in the year by head of the international Karate Diagaku (IKD) Sensei Frank Woon-A-Tai and had advanced their Kyu, noting an upsurge in the number of young students who were showing their dedication to the sport.
Sensei Wong said, “We also want to thank Guyana Government for their support during the year. They assisted us with a lot of things and as always, it is always a good feeling to have the blessings of your leaders when embarking on any journey.”
“In 2016, we would again like to embark on the same partnerships that we had in 2015 with both government and the private sector because we think that they are very important stakeholders for us to ensure that this year, we progress even further,” the GKC vice-president said.

By Stephan Sookram