 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2018) |
| Sport | Karate |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | National |
| Abbreviation | (GKF) |
| Founded | 30 April 1997 |
| Affiliation | World Karate Federation (WKF) |
| Regional affiliation | Union of African Karate Federation |
 | |
Ghana Karate Do Association it is the largest association for karate in Ghana and a member as well as the official representative for this sport in the Ghana Olympic Committee. It was founded in 1997. [1]
Karate was first introduced in Ghana in the early 1990s. Until the late 1990s, karate training in Ghana was more of a traditional martial art than a sport. Karate prospered because of the immense contribution of practitioners and mentors such as Sensei Daniel Djura, founder of Africa Goju; Sensei Donald Djura; Sensei Moses Baiden; Sensei Duke Banson; and Sensei Quagrine.
On 30 April 1997, a national body was registered and inaugurated with the National Sports Council (NSC) in the name of Ghana Karate-Do Federation (GKF) as the 26th sporting association. [2] The GKF was affiliated to the Union of African Karate Federation (UFAK) and eventually to the World Karate Federation (WKF).
The founding members were Melvin Brown, Francis Fuster, Benjamin Selormey, Victor Amara, Daniel Gyamfi and Samuel Akpalu. After the inauguration of the federation, there was the need to form an executive and a technical committee. The executive committee was chaired by Rtd. Captain George Mould, and FrancisFuster and Jude Adu-Amankwah were his vice.[ clarification needed ] All the other members were karatekas and served on the technical committee with Benjamin Selormey as Technical Director.
The Ghana Karate-Do Federation later came to be recognized as Ghana Karate-Do Association.
In 2004 Jude Adu-Amankwah took over from Capt. Mould as president of the association, with Sensei Melvin Brown as Technical Director, and Sensei Kwabena A. Poku as Referee and vice to the Technical Director. The other members of the technical committee were Sensei Prince Wilson, Sensei George-Slater Commodore, Sensei Saadisu Mamah Idrissu, Sensei Frank Danso Bekoe and Sensei Sylvester Davies. The technical committee is in charge of coaching and general training and grading of karatekas at the national level.
The membership of the executive committee was changed in 2009, with Michael Nunoo as the Chairman of the association and Sensei Saadisu Idrissu as the Technical Director. The present composition of the Management Board as of May 2011 is Michael Nunoo, Chairman; Ade Sawyer, Vice-Chairman; Patrick Anyidoho-Cofie, General Secretary; Nathaniel Nartey, member; Sensei Kwabena Poku, Head Coach; Sensei Frank Danso Bekoe, Deputy Coach; and Dr. Sulley, member. The executive committee is now referred to as the management board.
The present members of the technical committee are Sensei Kwabena A. Poku, Head Coach; Sensei Prince Wilson; Sensei Frank Danso Bekoe, Deputy Coach; Sensei Isaac Amponsah; Sensei Ibrahim Jarrah; Victor Lartey; and Emmanuel Adjei.
The GKA took its first outing the year it was inaugurated, in 1997, to the UFAK Zone 3 Championships in the Ivory Coast, and won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Since then the association has participated in many yearly UFAK Zone 3 Championships and has performed increasingly well, winning laurels in both Kumite and Kata. The Association has also represented Ghana in three All Africa Games since its inauguration: in 1997, 2003 and 2007, when contestant Victor Lartey won by correction of a previous decision.
Ghana Karate Do Association is a member of the African umbrella organization Union of African Karate Federation (UAKF) as well as the World Association for World Karate Federation (WKF).
On the part of the Ghana Olympic Committee, the Ghana Karate Association is the only Karate Association authorized to send athletes to the Olympic Games.
Karate (空手) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands and palm-heel strikes. Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints and vital-point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a karateka (空手家).
The World Karate Federation (WKF) is the largest international governing body of sport karate with 198 member countries. It was formed in 1990, by Fikret Selman(master of karate 8 DAN)it is the only karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has more than ten million members. The WKF organizes the Junior and Senior Karate World Championships, which are each held every other year. The President of the WKF is Fikiriki Selmanos, and the headquarters are located in Tuzla, BiH. All the styles are officially recognised by the WKF.
St. Augustine’s College is an all-male boarding academic institution in Cape Coast, Ghana. The school started at Amissano, a village near Elmina, in 1930. The Roman Catholic institution was established to serve as a training college and seminary. The school was named after St. Augustine of Hippo. The motto of the college is Omnia Vincit Labor, meaning "Perseverance conquers All". The school has a total of 11 houses.
The Trinidad and Tobago Karate Union (TTKU) is the National Governing Body for the sport of Karate in Trinidad and Tobago. The TTKU is affiliated to the World Karate Federation (WKF) which is the only world karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee.
Seigokan (正剛館) is the Goju-Ryu Karate-do organization founded in 1945 by Seigo Tada (1922-1997) Hanshi. With its Hombu Dojo (headquarters) in Himeji, Japan, the Seigokan All Japan Karate-do Association (SAJKA) — its official name — has branches in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, the Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, the United States, England, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia and Venezuela.
The Philippine Karatedo Federation N.S.A., Inc. (PKF-NSA) is the governing body claiming jurisdiction over the sport of karate in the Philippines.
María Dimitrova is a Bulgarian-Dominican martial artist who practices karate.
Atsuko Wakai is a Japanese practitioner of karate who has won many international and Japanese national competitions in kata (patterns), including unprecedented numbers of consecutive titles in World Karate Federation (WKF) and All Japan Karatedo championships. She holds the rank of 6th dan black belt from the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF), training in Seigokan Goju-ryu karate.
José Martins Achiam (1944–2008) was a Portuguese born in Macau.
USA National Karate-do Federation is the national governing body (NGB) of karate for the United States Olympic Committee and as such is the official Member National Association (MNA) of the World Karate Federation (WKF) in the United States.
Ghana's most popular sport is football, followed by boxing and basketball.
The Ghana Trades Union Congress is a national centre that unites various workers' organizations in Ghana. The organization was established in 1945.
Hamish Telfer Adam MBE is a Scottish Karate coach and instructor. He has been representing Scotland and Britain in Karate since the 1970s and is currently chairman of the Scottish Karate Federation.
Polish Karate Federation is a Polish organization associating among others shōtōkan karate clubs. It belongs to the World Karate Federation committee.
Karin Prinsloo is a South African karateka, gold medal winner of the 6th World Games (2001) in the under 60 kg Kumite category and Karate instructor formerly based in Durban, South Africa, now hailing from Perth, Australia. She is listed among the top 100 Karate competitors of all time.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) represents physicians, surgeons and dentists working throughout Ghana. It was established in 1958 and is divided into ten divisions representing each region of Ghana as at the end of 2018.
The African Karate Federation is the continental governing body of the sport karate in Africa. The UFAK is a non-governmental continental organisation. It has legal personality and financial autonomy. It is non-political, non-profit, non-denominational and cannot accept any racial or other discrimination and performs its activities on an amateur basis in compliance with the principles set forth in the Olympic Charter, duly recognised by the World Karate Federation (WKF), Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC), Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).
The Karate India Organisation(KIO) replaced Karate Association of India(KAI) as the national governing body for Karate in India on confirmation from World Karate Federation (WKF) on 15 November 2021.
Youssef Badawy is an Egyptian karateka and a world-classed champion. He won the gold medal in the men's kumite 84 kg event at the 2021 World Karate Championships held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In 2019, he won the bronze medal in the men's kumite 84 kg event at the World Cadet, Junior & Under 21 Championships in Chile, marking his debut at the Worlds and introducing himself as a candidate for the World Champion title.
National members of the World Karate Federation | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Countries, teams, association and federation actively joining WKF World Championships. | |||||||||||
 | Europe (EKF) | ||||||||||
| Asian (AKF) |
| ||||||||||
| African (UFAK) | |||||||||||
| Pan America (PKF) | |||||||||||
| Oceania (OKF) |
| ||||||||||
| Summer Olympic Sports |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Sports |
| |
| Other IOC Recognised Sports |
| |
| Paralympics and Disabled Sports | ||
| Others Sports | ||