BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU 
In one of Zimbabwe’s martial art sports, kyokushin karate, 2010 will present the reigning sports person of the year award winner with a challenge of maintaining a world championship title at a tournament to be held in Japan, in April.
The first African world middleweight champion, sensei (teacher) Samson Muripo, has begun his preparations for the high profile international full-contact karate knockdown with fear of defeat.
“It’s not an easy task at all to go and compete with the Japanese in their backyard and come back a happy sportsperson,” said Muripo.
“I have been there, the 30 Men kumite (fight) during my grading to third dan was the biggest challenge of my life I will never forget. They (karatekas) almost separated my body and its spirit and to think that in the coming international tournament I will pass through Japanese and other top fighters from other countries remind me of the big task at hand.”
Muripo, who revealed his dream of becoming “the Oishi of Zimbabwe” in an interview with The Zimbabwean, last May, spent the rest of 2009 cementing a concrete foundation for his vision.
Shihan (Master) Daigo Oishi is a well respected karate guru who owns 105 dojos (clubs) with more than 105 instructors, in the sport’s founding country, Japan.
The Japanese Shihan is one of the Kyokushin karate icons who have not only inspired Muripo but many young fighters in his country and beyond.
Despite being two levels away from reaching the martial art sport master’s fifth dan black belt, Muripo has already carved his name in Zimbabwe’s annals of sporting history.
With his commendable achievements in 2009, Muripo has brought to the limelight a sport once considered a minority activity that had less recognition in the media and the people of Zimbabwe.
His name will be engraved on the sportsperson of the year floating cup alongside such great names as swimming sensation, Kirsty Coventry, tennis ace Cara Black, cricket icon Andrew Flower and soccer star Benjani Mwaruwari.
“2009 made the impossible possible. I never had such a dream of becoming a world champion from my tender ages back in Chimanimani; storming the world? No, not me. But here I am, Zimbabwe’s Sportsman and Sportsperson of the year,” he said.
“It is all thanks to Hanshi Oishi in coalition with Shihan Bas van Stenis, Shihan Roel Wildeboer, my local sponsors Arosume Property Development, Homegate Furnishers and Fashion, AlcatraZ Fashions, Mazowe Garden Plaza T/A Nakas Cuisine and Stone Fields Mining.”
Though seemingly quiet, shy and vulnerable at first sight, the 31-year-old world champion inspires many when he steps on the tatami (mat where karatekas fight) and he confirms it; one certainly needs not to be bouncer to win a fight in full-contact karate.
It all started in 1993 at Chimanimani’s Ndima Secondary School when then a Form One student, Muripo and his friends were banned from the soccer club for damaging the school’s footballs to join a newly formed karate club.
He was graded to brown belt in 2000 before his first dan black belt in 2004, with second dan the following year. His third dan black belt was graded in 2007, in Japan after a blazing 30-men fight.
Despite grading to his fourth dan black belt level, sensei Muripo aspires to take Zimbababwe’s future in karate to dizzy heights.
“I hope 2010 is a year of great wonders, the expansion of my territory so that I can reach every inspired young ones in every province of Zimbabwe and triumph across the globe with opportunities available,” said Muripo.
“But this is not an easy job, I hope Kyokushin Union Zimbabwe with the support of the corporate world and the government at large, will be able to establish Karate Academy, registered with the relevant ministry so that many Zimbabwean youths may come and learn the awesome martial art sport. I dream of an academy of Japanese standards.”
The first African world middleweight champion, sensei (teacher) Samson Muripo, has begun his preparations for the high profile international full-contact karate knockdown with fear of defeat.
“It’s not an easy task at all to go and compete with the Japanese in their backyard and come back a happy sportsperson,” said Muripo.
“I have been there, the 30 Men kumite (fight) during my grading to third dan was the biggest challenge of my life I will never forget. They (karatekas) almost separated my body and its spirit and to think that in the coming international tournament I will pass through Japanese and other top fighters from other countries remind me of the big task at hand.”
Muripo, who revealed his dream of becoming “the Oishi of Zimbabwe” in an interview with The Zimbabwean, last May, spent the rest of 2009 cementing a concrete foundation for his vision.
Shihan (Master) Daigo Oishi is a well respected karate guru who owns 105 dojos (clubs) with more than 105 instructors, in the sport’s founding country, Japan.
The Japanese Shihan is one of the Kyokushin karate icons who have not only inspired Muripo but many young fighters in his country and beyond.
Despite being two levels away from reaching the martial art sport master’s fifth dan black belt, Muripo has already carved his name in Zimbabwe’s annals of sporting history.
With his commendable achievements in 2009, Muripo has brought to the limelight a sport once considered a minority activity that had less recognition in the media and the people of Zimbabwe.
His name will be engraved on the sportsperson of the year floating cup alongside such great names as swimming sensation, Kirsty Coventry, tennis ace Cara Black, cricket icon Andrew Flower and soccer star Benjani Mwaruwari.
“2009 made the impossible possible. I never had such a dream of becoming a world champion from my tender ages back in Chimanimani; storming the world? No, not me. But here I am, Zimbabwe’s Sportsman and Sportsperson of the year,” he said.
“It is all thanks to Hanshi Oishi in coalition with Shihan Bas van Stenis, Shihan Roel Wildeboer, my local sponsors Arosume Property Development, Homegate Furnishers and Fashion, AlcatraZ Fashions, Mazowe Garden Plaza T/A Nakas Cuisine and Stone Fields Mining.”
Though seemingly quiet, shy and vulnerable at first sight, the 31-year-old world champion inspires many when he steps on the tatami (mat where karatekas fight) and he confirms it; one certainly needs not to be bouncer to win a fight in full-contact karate.
It all started in 1993 at Chimanimani’s Ndima Secondary School when then a Form One student, Muripo and his friends were banned from the soccer club for damaging the school’s footballs to join a newly formed karate club.
He was graded to brown belt in 2000 before his first dan black belt in 2004, with second dan the following year. His third dan black belt was graded in 2007, in Japan after a blazing 30-men fight.
Despite grading to his fourth dan black belt level, sensei Muripo aspires to take Zimbababwe’s future in karate to dizzy heights.
“I hope 2010 is a year of great wonders, the expansion of my territory so that I can reach every inspired young ones in every province of Zimbabwe and triumph across the globe with opportunities available,” said Muripo.
“But this is not an easy job, I hope Kyokushin Union Zimbabwe with the support of the corporate world and the government at large, will be able to establish Karate Academy, registered with the relevant ministry so that many Zimbabwean youths may come and learn the awesome martial art sport. I dream of an academy of Japanese standards.”
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