World-renowned kung fu grandmasters will be landing on our shores next month for the first Africa Kids and Youth Kung Fu tournament.
The tournament, which is the brainchild of Cape Town’s own grandmaster, Muhammad Junaid Chafeker aka MJ Li, will take place on November 26 and 27 at the University of Cape Town’s Sports Centre.
It will be the first of its kind, not only for South Africa but for the continent, where Chafeker and his MJ Li Kung Fu Foundation will host as many as 200 athletes, aged 10 to 19 years old, from various countries across Africa for this two day mixed martial arts competition.
Chafeker says he wants to inspire laaities to dream big.
“I was a youngster who grew up on the Cape Flats. I came from a poor background, but I worked very hard and made the correct choices,” says Chafeker.
“My first opportunity to go to China to train and compete internationally was over 20 years ago and I always thought of our youth from South Africa and different African countries, how many would not get that opportunity because of economic constraints and financial conditions.”
“The dynamic for our youth on the African continent is very challenging and in my mind, for many years, I have had my own African dream and that was, how can we bring a small professional tournament, bring top world-renowned grandmasters to South Africa to come as special guests and share their expertise and wealth of knowledge with our youth of Africa.”
The participating countries are Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Egypt, Uganda, Mozambique and Mauritius. Up to 70 SA kids are set to participate.
“Once the tournament is complete, we will be going out to disadvantaged communities and do self-defence workshops and empower women as part of the 16 days of activism campaign,” adds Chafeker.
Martial arts royalty, who will be flown out for the championship, include Ninth Level Grandmaster of Wu Hao Tai Chi, vice president of The World Chin Woo Kungfu Federation and Grandmaster to MJ Li, Jimmy Wong from China, and Grandmaster Christopher Clarke from Jamaica who is now a resident in the USA .
Clarke is one of the highest-ranked Afro-American grandmasters of tai chi and kung fu.
And if they look familiar, both grandmasters Wong and Clarke have appeared in several movies.
To purchase tickets for the tournament, contact 076 9896 979/081 7111 211.
marsha.dean@inl.co.za