It was a proud group of participants which turned up at the National Gymnasium on Friday evening where they were awarded certificates signifying that they were successful at the inaugural examination of the Guyana Karate College held on April 15.
Also present at the award ceremony was Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony.
Of the 19 graduates, seven performed exceedingly well and examiner Frank Woon-A-Tai had no hesitation in having them skip yellow belt moving from white belt straight to orange (7Q).
The other 12 participants were graded at yellow belts.
After the presentation ceremony Protocol Manager, Nafeeza Rodrigues, said that President Bharrat Jagdeo had approved a request for a portion of land to establish a Karate Academy.
Rodrigues said that once the college can come up with a certain amount of money to show that they are capable of building the college the project would get off the ground.
“Once we can come up with a certain percentage the President has agreed to help up with the rest,” Rodrigues added.
She said they were hoping to get the plot of land in a prime location so as to attract more persons to the sport.
Rodrigues added that establishing the Karate Academy would help primarily with the development of karate in the country and would also be the first of its kind in the Caribbean and the facility could be used to host numerous karate related events.
