Madibaz karatekas fight their way back to the top at USSAs #R2bP

The Madibaz full-contact karate team recently won the gold medal at the University Sports South Africa tournament in Vanderbijlpark.

After two years of not winning the title, the Mandela University team finally made it back to the podium, winning 28 medals, 18 of which were gold.

Under the guidance of coaches Sango Mbinyashe (full-contact) and Adré Weideman (semi-contact), the Madibaz reaped the benefits of a carefully designed training programme to match their pre-Covid performances in 2018 and 2019.

Mbinyashe and Weideman, who were appointed as mentors of their respective disciplines last year, have focused entirely on restoring the university’s status as a sporting powerhouse.

Mbinyashe, one of the medal winners with a gold medal in the advanced kata and a silver medal in the kumite category up to 70kg, explained that they had done everything beforehand to give the team the best possible chance to climb back up the rankings.

An example of this was inviting senseis from the Gqeberha area to offer their expertise to the team.

“We covered every aspect of the sport,” said Mbinyashe, who believes in an academic approach.

Weideman added that they had also introduced more efficient structures to assist the students in their pursuit of excellence and that the input from Madibaz Sport management had been crucial in achieving this.

“We’ve focused on being much better prepared for training,” she said.

This meant ensuring they had access to good locations and transportation for club members so they could focus solely on their development.

After winning nine medals in the semi-contact discipline at last year’s USSAs, Weideman said their goal was to reach double figures this time around.

To help them in their quest, they hired an additional team member and entered more divisions.

“But to come back with 12 gold medals and one silver was beyond expectations,” she said of the team’s bronze medal performance.

Her most notable results were the four gold and two silver medals for Luchay Weideman and the three gold and one silver medal for Arden Harris.

Full Madibaz results:

Full contact

Cata

Women, advanced: Sinazo Kunene (gold), Busisiwe Ngwane (silver); intermediate: Amanda Gumede (bronze)

Men, advanced: Sango Mbinyashe (gold); intermediate: Zukile Chagi (silver)

Team, advanced: Madibaz (gold); intermediate: Madibaz (bronze)

Kumite

Open: Busisiwe Ngwane (gold); U70kg: Sango Mbinyashe (silver)

Clicker

Women, U65kg: Sinazo Kunene (bronze)

Men, U60kg: Zukile Chagi (silver); U65kg: Inganathi Ginqgini (bronze); U70kg: Athandile Kwetana (gold); U75kg: Kwazi Zwezwe and Rhinos Mpofu (shared bronze); Open: Lesego Nkoana (gold)

Half-contact

Luchay Weideman (four gold), Arden Harris (three gold, one silver), Nezaan Swartz (four gold), Carlyn Camineth (one gold)