KARATE national reps are giving back to karate through officiating in karate championships in the country and training athletes.

Yesterday, at the Opening seasons championship, Karate Fiji president Makarita Lenoa said this year was a little different from the past as they now had national reps officiating in the games.

“We now have experienced athletes moving on to officiating and this championship is interesting because this is a whole new generation of young athletes,” Lenoa said.

“We are happy in that regard that they are now getting help from the experienced athletes because in the past athletes had to go overseas to learn karate,” she added.

She said this was also good in terms of the development of the sports.

“These experienced athletes included Naomi Bakani, Anil Chand, David Qiolevu who is also the national coach now and Pita Lenoa with Lemeki Lenoa have been to World Championships and they have helped in improving the standard of competition here coming with the experience from that standard,” Lenoa said.

Meanwhile she said they would also be on the lookout for a selection of the team to participate in next year’s Oceania championship in New Caledonia.

Yesterday saw three teams with at least 40 athletes participating in the competition at the Yat Sen Hall.

In the Kata category –

Goju Ryu Lautoka won 3 gold medals, 6 silver and 7 bronze while Suva Goju Ryu won 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. YMCA club did not win anything in this category.

In the kumite category-Goju Ryu Lautoka won 4 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze while Suva won 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze.

YMCA won a gold, silver and a bronze in this category.