3-day karate camp concludes

KARACHI: A three-day karate camp on Tuesday concluded at the Japan Information and Culture Centre here at the Consulate-General of Japan in Karachi.

The camp was organised by the Japan Karate Association Pakistan with the assistance of the Japan Consulate in Karachi and Japan embassy. It was in fact the Karachi chapter of the ten-day national training camp which will conclude at Lahore at the end of this month.

The camp was conducted by former kata world champion and Japan Karate Association (JKA) 7-Dan Katsutoshi Shiina, a master of Shotokan karate. This is his fourth visit to Pakistan. He had also conducted similar camps in Pakistan in 1997, 2010 and 2017. Shiina will now move to Islamabad to conduct a camp from January 24-25 and then will hold similar camp in Sialkot on January 26 before supervising the final phase of the national training camp at Lahore from January 28-30. The karachi camp was attended by around 70 to 80 fighters. Only two of them including international Mohammad Anwar (Lahore) and black belt Haroon Marri (Balochistan) were outstationed. The rest were from Sindh. Consul General of Japan in Karachi Toshikazu Isomura also graced the closing ceremony and distributed certificates among the participants.

Speaking on the occasion Shiina said that he hoped that the local fighters would have learnt a great deal about the game. “I will come again and hope the lot would have improved much by then,” Shiina said. Consul General Isomura said when he was young he also played karate.

“It’s a difficult game and is very attractive,” Isomura said. He said that the basic purpose of the game is to strengthen one’s heart. “I am very happy that Shiina will again come to Karachi. I hope the same fighters would appear before him in much improved fashion next time,” Isomura hoped.The newly-elected president of Japan Karate Association Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali thanked Consul General for providing assistance to his association in organising the camp in a befitting manner.