AS South Africans cheered Olympic hero Caster Semenya to her gold medal at the Rio Olympics last weekend, another Semenya was also representing the country at an international sporting competition right here in Cape Town.
While Semenya senior was wowing fans on the track in Brazil, 12-year-old Lehumo Semenya was showing his karate skills during the the 3rd International Shotokan Karate Federation’s World Shoto Cup.
Lehumo, a Grade 7 pupil from Glenstantia Primary in Pretoria and a red belt in karate, was competing in the men’s 12/13 category against martial artists from around the world.
And, just like team SA in Brazil, the country’s junior team can look back on a successful medals haul.
South African juniors aged between 10 and 17 won a total 53 medals.
The event, which took place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre last weekend, attracted more than 380 martial artists from 20 countries.
The event kicked off on Saturday with juniors performing katas, a Japanese term for a choreographed pattern of specified movements. A panel of international judges checked that each of the movements were exact and precise and awarded scores.
Then it was time for the main event – kumite, Japanese for sparring.
Here pairs of competitors, wearing gloves, battled it out in a knock-out format on large foam mats called tatami. Five judges adjudicated each bout to check who scored hits. As the event progressed, young martial artists proudly showed off their medals, which were awarded in gold, silver and bronze to the winners of both the kata and kumite events.
While the sparring was intense and medics had to be called to check on incapacitated competitors more than once, the mood remained friendly and respectful.
Competitors made a point of congratulating each other even when someone lost his or her bout of sparring.
South Africa entered the largest team at the event, with 153 members taking part, including 50 from a youth development team.
Sensei San Pillay, an eighth dan black belt and the president and chief instructor of the ISKF South Africa, praised the performance of the South African juniors, noting many were competing in an international competition for the first time.
“Hosting the championship locally gave students that cannot afford to attend championships abroad the chance to compete against international competitors,” he added.
Pillay was confident hosting the championship would encourage more youth to take up karate as a sport.
And the youngsters representing team SA were already looking forward to the next competition.
“Most of them have come to me and said, ‘sensei we have to work harder and do better in the next World Cup’,” said Pillay.