daniel chigunwe
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE big story coming out of the World Association of Kick-boxing Organisations African Continental Kick-boxing Championships held last week is that Zimbabwe returned home with nine medals and two newly minted African champions in Kayla von Drabich and Royal Dengezi.
Zimbabwe also gained further recognition when the Zimbabwe Kick-boxing Association president, Grandmaster Tony Kamangira, was elected to the WAKO board, on the sidelines of the event, making Team Zimbabwe’s trip to South Africa a hugely successful one.
Roughly 16 African nations — namely Angola, Algeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Libya, Senegal, South Africa, and, of course, Zimbabwe — converged in Johannesburg for the three-day event held from December 9-12.
Team Zimbabwe competed in four of the six categories and returned home with two gold medals, three silver medals, and four bronze medals.
Due to the tournament’s standing on the continent, Dengezi and Drabich’s gold medals in K1 fighting and points fighting, respectively, made the duo African champions in their division.
The other medals were won by silver medallists Ronald Mhlanga (10 years) in points fighting, Simbarashe Mlambo in full contact, and Bruce Gumbo in low kicks.
Sanchez Zimani (low kicks), Personal Mpofu, Arthur Chihlangu, and Garikai Muganga (full contact) all returned home with bronze medals.
However, underneath all that bravado of a successful sojourn, the Zimbabwe Kick-boxing Association are already dreaming big and have pinpointed the Olympics as the next step.
“This was the WAKO African Championships, the biggest tournament on the continent, and the team did very well. They performed beyond our expectations even,’’ said Eric Chengaose, who doubled as the team manager and co-coach of Team Zimbabwe.
“We went with a total of 11 fighters to South Africa, and all but one, who got injured, managed to make it as far as semi-finals.
“Two of them went as far as to win their divisions and get crowned African champions. The two are Kayla von Drabich and Royal Dengezi.
“This is a far cry from the less than adequate preparations we had in which we hardly assembled as a group for camp while other nations had their fighters together for months.
“The other nations were better equipped and more seasoned, but we held our own and managed to get two African champions and nine medals,” he said.
While kick-boxing is not currently an Olympic sport, it has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2020.
WAKO is the governing body for kick-boxing and has been working towards Olympic inclusion as the sport has already featured at several multi-sport events like the World Games, European Games, Asian Games, and African Games.
The IOC has also included kick-boxing in the Olympic program for the 2023 European Games in Krakow, Poland, and the 2025 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Olympics looks to be the next stop, and Chengaose hopes Zimbabwe will line up alongside other nations for this historic event when and if it happens.
“This was the last tournament of the year; all the countries brought their best fighters, and Zimbabwe did very well to attain the medals and get two African champions,” went on Chengaose.
“Resources and exposure are what are needed now; otherwise, the sky is the limit.
“The Olympics, should kick-boxing get the slot, is very much a possibility.
“With more resources, we will be better prepared as we struggled before this tournament as fighters came from as far as Beitbridge and Mutare.
“We didn’t meet as a group to iron out the basics and polish up on weaknesses as fighters trained from their bases.
“We have a very young and talented team with Kayla von Drabich, just 13 years old but already an African champion.
“We need to start giving these kids exposure and a little experience, and they will do wonders,” he said.
Efforts are ongoing to include kickboxing in the Olympic program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics or the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
