By GRACE CHAILE –
ZAMBIA has reaped seven medals from the 4th edition of the Gaborone Open Karate Championship.
The Zambia Martial Arts Association (ZaMAA) four-member team won four gold and two bronze during the tournament held in Botswana at the weekend that also attracted participation from Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Moodlee Chola, Hanif Moonga and Alex Shipondo won the gold in the veteran Kata and Kumite categories with the other gold won in the under-67 novice and intermediate events, while Chola  Chola won two bronze in the seven years advanced Kata and Kumite events.
Delegation leader Moodlee said in an interview upon arrival in Lusaka yesterday that Zambia would have reaped a lot of medals had the association sent a bigger contingent for the competition.
“This is a great result, especially that only four of us competed against likes of South Africa who fielded more than 30 karatekas.
“I am certain that we would have won more medals had we carried more karatekas but we failed due to financial challenges,” he said.
Moodlee appealed to the corporate world to come on board and help sports disciplines like karate that have shown potential to win medals and bring honour to the country and also paid tribute to the Zambia Army for giving  them permission to compete at the international  tournament.
And seven-year-old Chola said he was happy to have reaped bronze at the championship, adding that his aim was to win gold at the future competitions.