Madgwick wins gold at Commonwealth Karate Championships
Goju Karate Academy's Sensei Marius Madgwick won gold in Team Kata at the Commonwealth Karate Championships, which took place on October 11 to 13 in Montreal, Canada.
Team Kata consists of three competitors in a team performing a kata (sequence of self-defence techniques – blocks, strikes and kicks) in unison.
The movements have to be perfectly synchronised and extreme power, speed, balance and focus have to be demonstrated by all three team members.
Madgwick and his two teammates from Fourways defeated India in the finals to be crowned champions.
Madgwick also took part in Individual Kata Division where he finished in fifth place.
Gareth Hird, who’s Madgwick’s student at Goju Karate Academy in Sunward Park, was the second member from the academy to feature at the championships after being selected for the Junior Protea Team.
Hird finished seventh in a group that had some of the top junior karate athletes.
Madgwick and his two teammates have also won the South African All-Style Karate Championships earlier this year in Durban for Team Kata, and represented the country at the Zone 6 Championships in Namibia, in June, where they earned a bronze medal also for Team Kata.
In addition, the triumvirate competed in the World Karate Federation’s (WKF) Premier League Championships, held in Russia earlier this year, to finish with a bronze medal in Team Kata and becoming one of the first South Africans to win a WKF Premier League medal.
Eight countries were represented at the Commonwealth Championships namely Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Botswana, Pakistan, Ghana and South Africa.
The South African Team managed to get a third place overall finish winning ten gold, 11 silver and 23 bronze medals.
The host nation came out on top with New Zealand completing the top three.
