THE Guyana Karate College (GKC) will later today host a grading exercise for students to enhance their status (belts). According to senior instructor Sensei Jeffery Wong, the grading comes as several athletes prepare for the International Karate Diagaku (IDK) world cup and camp set for July in Toronto, Canada.
Speaking after a session yesterday, Master Frank Woon-A-Tai, president of the IDK indicated that the athletes are in good shape ahead of the championship, but noted some shortcomings.
“I evaluated them. I made them come out to do their Kata, their team Bunkai (the application of the Kata) and the Embu which is a demonstration. Right after the class we started with the first course to bring them up to that standard, but the main weakness is that they are not coming out as a team to train.
“You may have one person out of a team coming or you may have two. It’s very rare that you have all three of them at the same time training, which makes the work of Sensei Wong very, very difficult.”
He stated that nonetheless, he is confident of improvement. “Other than that, they look pretty good. Then I have to fine-tune them in the week and a half that I’m here, but I’m hopeful that as long as they come, they are going to improve.”
Meanwhile, sensei Wong is confident of having all his students graduate with excellent results as he has had them in training for this day for months now.
The grading exercise is set for 16:30hrs today at the Carifesta Sport Complex on Carifesta Avenue.

By Stephan Sookram