Barbados are ready to defend their title at the tenth Caribbean Karate Championships on home turf this weekend.
A 34-member team, captained by Corey Greaves and including calypsonian Michael Mikey Mercer, will face five other Caribbean nations – Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada – at the Barbados Community College tomorrow and Sunday.
Action will start at 10 a.m. each day and competitors will test their skills against each other in the traditional martial art of shotokan karate.
The Barbados team, announced on Monday at the Barbados Shotokan Karate Club in Marine Gardens, is well balanced in the adults and masters divisions.In the junior division, there are several players who will be making their debut.
Greaves, Mercer, Andre Lovell and Kevin Cox, who have previously represented Barbados at both the regional and international level, said they were ready to defend their various titles.
These four will be contesting in the individual and team events. Oliver Browne, who will be competing for the first time, is also one to look out for while Kyle Fenty is the lone competitor in the 17-19 age-group.
In the women’s category there is also a wealth of experience in Janelle Linton, Keisha Grimes, Allison James, Shari Cadogan and Angela Dixon. The debutant of this group is Lisa Eastmond, who will be contesting in the team embu event.
In the masters category, there are two members who will be making their debut – Robert Chase and Ricky Brathwaite.
After a three-year absence, Winston Mascoll is returning to competition to join Martin King, James Marshall and Ian Holligan in this division.
Competitors will battle it out in kata (forms) and kumite (sparring) in both individual and team events in all age categories. Team bunkai and team embu are the other team events slated for the championships. (PR)
