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Samson Muripo wins Gold at the recent Karate World Championships

Samson Muripo created history becoming the first person from an African country to win the Karate World Championship when he claimed gold in the middle weight Kiyokishini Karate in Osaka Japan.

The remarkable performance in Japan earlier this year means he joins other  Zimbabwean sporting heroes like diver Evan Stewart and swimmer Kirsty Coventry by turning himself into a world champion in his chosen sport.

A third Dan black belt holder, Samson is also the African middleweight champion and the technical director of the Mas Oyama Dojo club at Harare’s Raylton Sports Club.  He beat five other karatekas on his way to winning the world championship. He beat Alberto Santamaria of Spain in the first round and then knocked out Degeniyazov Nurken of Kazakhstan in the next round to proceed to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, he beat Herman Laschak of Germany and suddenly he was just two steps away from the gold. Australian karateka Daniel Fox was the next victim, falling in the semi-finals, to give Muripo the ticket into the final.

In the final he went up against local boy Kikuyama Yasumichi of Japan and, once again, Muripo won the bout to capture the gold medal for Zimbabwe in the middleweight division.

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