Desert Storm Kickboxing to rock the Bay next weekend
By Michael Uugwanga
ON 27 and 28 September, the Namibia Kickboxing Federation (NKF) will host the Desert Storm III tournament at Jan Wilken Sport Complex in Walvis Bay to identify new talent and the tourney will also serve as national trials for Namibian kickboxers who will partake in international events and world championships in the near future.
Desert Storm is the largest martial arts championships in Namibia, at which three Sub-Saharan titles will be contested. It is also the only martial arts championship of its kind. The event is expected to attract athletes from countries across Africa and around the world.
This was said by Anita de Klerk, president of NKF, in an interview with Confidente this week, in which she confirmed her federation is ready to host the event.
“The following VIPs will be in attendance, South African Sports Commission and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) president Gideon Sam, president of Ring Contact Fighting Arts International (RCFAI) Joe Viljoen, WAKO World Association of Kickboxing Organisations (WAKO) Region five Confederation representative Shihan Aslam Mahomed, Namibian Sports Commission (NSC) representatives and South African singer, actor and songwriter Brendt Wayne de Wet, who will be the Master of Ceremonies.
“There will be full media coverage (live social media feeds, newspapers and NBC TV) will be present. Twelve countries are expected to take part in the event: Namibia, South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Egypt, Brazil and Portugal. We are proud to have such a strong bond with the International bodies that represent Martial arts in Africa and beyond. The community will benefit due to the number of participants and people involved in this momentous event and we are therefore confident that the event will be a good success,” said de Klerk.
NKF is an affiliation body with the NSC but it does not receive funding from the Commission, however the federation has for the past few years been hard at work.
“The NKF has an active development, anti-bullying and social responsibility programme running in collaboration with our clubs all over Namibia. The NKF are currently reaching out to all areas (especially rural areas) of Namibia and develop all students to the best of their abilities, to send as many possible athletes to competitions to expose them to all scenarios regarding the sport, [and] to give each student of the clubs the opportunity to participate in as many social events as possible.
“The number of athletes currently registered to the NKF has grown exponentially. We have 60 percent male and 40 percent female. Ten percent of the students have disabilities and it is therefore our duty to reach out even further in future to accommodate more of these students. We are having a programme in place to teach delf-defence in schools, to abused women and disabled members of the community.
“The Federation offers a development programme for students over school holidays. We need your help to help each student reach his full potential in martial arts and we also want to make Namibian youngsters realize that they do not have to stand back against bullying and having a low self-esteem.”
NKF was established in 2016 and is proud of its success in its three years of existence. “The NKF had many tribulations over the past three years. One of the proudest moments is the Namibian Junior Sportsman of the Year that went to Delano Müller, who won the prestigious award two years in a row. Müller was also nominated at the Regional Annual Sport Awards this year. Another proud victory for him is the world titles in kickboxing [matches] that he fought in the USA and now holds three Sub-Sahara titles,” de Klerk said.