60 referees of Karate in Rwanda, including 52 men and eight women, were trained on the changes made in the rules of the Karate game in Worldwide, which began to be implemented in the year 2023.
This one-day workshop was held at the Great Hotel in Kigali on January 21, and was attended by the Vice President of the Rwandan Karate Federation (FERWAKA), Karamaga Barnabé.
Mwizerwa Dieudonné, a Karate referee representing others in Rwanda and an international referee at the African level and the person responsible for giving points at the World level ‘Judge’, was the one whose responsible of this training.
Talking about this training, Mwizerwa said that the reason is to implement the changes and rules that are used in this game and they should be enforced this month.
He added that they put effort into training in Rwandan Karate because last year there was an international competition, some of the players lost because they did not know the rules.
He said, “We have prepared this training for the reasons that the new laws that have been published will be applied this year from this month of January until the coming years. We wanted the referees, coaches and players as well as the candidates to take the test, all of them moving with the times.”
“It looks like we have a lot of competition ahead of us, but even based on last year’s competition, it was clear that there were a lot of athletes who lost because they weren’t crazy, they were law-abiding,” he continued.
For the changes that have taken place in the law, Mwizerwa said that there are many, but they include the most important parts, which are the giving of faults and punishments and the giving of points.
He said, “The rules have changed a lot, some are related to giving mistakes and punishments, some are related to giving points both in Kata and Kumite [fighting]. We saw that the best thing was that everyone tried to understand it, they read it.”
Uwihoreye Claire is one of the participants of this training, said that she has learned a lot from him and that she is going to help her in his daily job of teaching Karate to children.
She said, “He helps us a lot because he increases my knowledge about what I already know, especially since I was already on the website of Karate referees in Rwanda. There are rules that have changed, I needed to know them to help me move up my level.”
This training was organized while Rwanda is preparing to host the The Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) scheduled between February or March.
Some of the Karate athletes who will participate in these games are among the participants.
