KJK kids shine bright at national championships
The KJK Judo Club had some of their best students walk away with top honors after competing in the South African Schools Championships.
The KJK Judo Club had some of their best students walk away with top honours after competing in the South African Schools Championships.
The event, held at the University of Johannesburg Soweto Campus on 7 and 8 October, saw over 600 children in the 6 to14 years age categories compete against each other to earn their qualifications in judo. The championship is divided into the Novice Tournament and the Advanced Tournament.
The Novice Tournament is for children who have not yet qualified or have not competed on a national level yet, while the Advanced Tournament is for those who have qualified and competed on a national level. They are usually ranked judoka.
Among the 600 participants in the two divisions, KJK’s Oabile Molefe from Ridgevale Primary School, Ruhan Terblanche from Laerskool Roodekrans, Shawwal Bagaria from Randpark High School, Tyla Stacey-Hale from La Salle College and Ruan Delport from Hoërskool Florida all walked away with gold medals in their respective age and weight categories.
Front: Tyla Stacey-Hale, Ruhan Terblanche, Oabile Molefe
Credit: Liziwe Mbha
Oabile started judo last year and the SA Schools Novice was his first tournament. After having competed in numerous smaller district tournaments where he achieved mixed results, he now has a gold to his name.
Shawwal has had a successful judo year as she won a gold medal at the SA Open Judo Championships in Bloemfontein and a gold at the SA Schools Tournament for Advanced Judoka. Unfortunately, it will be Shawwal’s last year competing in the SA Schools tournament as she will compete in a higher age category from next year.
At the SA Open Championships in Bloemfontein earlier this year, Tyla won a gold medal. She finished first in her age and weight category in Gauteng. Tyla capped off her year by winning another gold medal at the SA Schools tournament for Advanced Judoka.
Ruan took home gold from the Advanced Tournament. He had won a bronze medal at the SA Open Championships earlier this year.
Ruhan is by far the lightest player in his age and weight group – weighing a mere 28kg, he competes in the 34kg category (the lightest category in the competition). He won a silver medal at the SA Open in Bloemfontein, and recently won gold at the SA Schools tournament for Advanced Judoka. He is also ranked first in his age and weight category in Gauteng.
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