THE Guyana Harpy Eagle Martial Arts Academy (GHEMAA) which is based at the Beterverwagting Secondary School on the East Coast Demerara will be hosting its first-ever Inter-club karate championship at the same venue this Sunday from 10:00hrs. According to organiser of the one-day tournament, Fourth Dan Sensei Troy Bobb, Sunday’s event is being used as preparation for his club’s hectic overseas schedule for this year, which has, amongst other things, his participation in the North American Federation of Martial Arts (NAFMA) competition that is scheduled to be held in Beijing, China, in August.
Sensei Bobb was privileged to have a photo with Master Jose L. Torres II, the NAFMA Director before being selected by Billy Blanks and Master Torres II to be a part of the US National team for the 2012 Asia Tour Korea/China which will be held in three towns (Beijing China, Shaolin Temple and Shanghai China).
This was after he attended the National Karate Championship during May 27-28 in Atlantic City, New York and secured a superb first position in (Kata), Weapons and Musical competition.
Bobb said karatekas from six other clubs including the Guyana Amateur Karate Association (GAKA) and two from Uitvlugt will be in participating in Sunday’s event, with each club being represented by at least 25 karatekas.
Persons desirous of witnessing the event can do so by paying an admission fee of $200, where they will be privileged to see the karatekas performing various moves in kata, kumite, team katas, weapons, swords display and many more.
While Sensei Bobb has a desire to make the inter-club tournament an annual affair, he did promise to look closely at same, since the acquisition of sponsorship poses a problem, with trophies for Sunday’s event being sponsored by himself and Sensei Steve Roberts.