After a successful school tour to scout for Kung Fu talent, 23 excited young athletes have been selected to compete in the Hong Kong Tournament in March 2019.
The students, who are all from disadvantaged areas across the Western Cape were handpicked by three-times gold medalist and Kung Fu legend Muhammad Junaid Chafeker, aka MJ Li.
The youngsters form part of Chafeker’s Youth Development Programme and are hard at work raising funds for their trip.
The youngest are two 11-year-olds, and Chafeker says they are also the youngest yet to have joined his squad.
He says the students will be competing in the categories of Taolu, Weapons Display, Group Demos and Full Contact Sanda.
And he is confident they will be able to top the seven medals last year’s team brought home.
“I’m excited because this is the most well-represented youth Kung Fu squad from across the Western Cape,” says Chafeker.
“I’m nervous too because the competition is going to be tougher in Hong Kong.
“My previous squad came back with seven medals, our target for 2019 is a minimum of 10 medals.”
Each student needs to raise R27 000, which will cover flights, accommodation, registration fee, team kit, food and two cultural tours after the tournament.
The squad will be hosting a Kung Fu Tournament and Entertainment Evening at Rylands Civic Centre on 12 December.
The team departs on 15 March and the tournament takes place from 22-26 March 2019.
About 6500 athletes from 38 countries are expected to compete at the tournament.