Annual Shito-Ryu Karate National Championship, workshop targets capacity building, growth

Two young boys set for action at the just concluded Shito-Ryu Karate championship held at National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos

Adherents and practitioners of the Shito-Ryu style of Karate gathered over the weekend at the indoor sports hall of the National Stadium for the 2022 edition of their annual national championship and workshop.

The four-day event afforded members an opportunity to commune, interact, and test their skills with their peers across the country. This year’s event had as special guest, President, World Shito-Ryu Karate Federation (Africa), from Cote D’Ivoire, Hanshi Patrice Bai (8th degree black belt), steering the workshop and co-chairing the championship, as hosted by the president, Shito-ryu Karate Association of Nigeria (SKAN), Hanshi Lucky Ebunu (8th degree black belt).

Vice President, SKAN, Sensei Wilson Okon, revealed that Bai came to lead the workshop in furtherance of the relationship between SKAN and the World Shito-ryu Karate Federation (WSKF), to which SKAN is affiliated. The workshop featured a large gathering of black belt Shito-ryu practitioners and participants from other styles and was geared towards reinforcing the fundamental techniques unique to the Shito-ryu style and equipping SKAN’s black belt members and instructors with basic techniques and training strategies for teaching the style to their students in their clubs, while ensuring uniformity in what is taught in Shito-ryu clubs across Africa; in line with WSKF’s mandate to drive the growth and development of Shito-ryu Karate in Africa.

Bai tasked SKAN’s chief instructor, Sensei Atagana Ramirez, to ensure technical points taught during the workshop are integrated into SKAN’s training programme to further reinforce the gains of the