Funds stall JKA's SA Champs' trip
MBABANE – It now sounds like a stuck record, that Swaziland lacks sufficient sports funding from government and this was once again sadly proven true as the Japanese Karate Association (JKA) has had to call off their participation in the South African Championships.
The team which has been preparing for months now will no longer be travelling to the Standard Bank Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa due to lack of funds.
Secretary of the association, Wandile Masina confirmed yesterday that they have since cancelled the trip slated for next week.
The team was set to leave on Sunday and return on Friday afternoon.
Apologise
"One must regrettably apologise to the artists and parents as preparations were at a very advanced stage and we were all looking forward to it but after looking at the allocation we got, we decided not to go, instead we invited Mozambique for an international friendly at a date we’ll announce soon," he said.
He said the Mozambique friendly would still give them good practice in preparation for the All Africa Games to be hosted by the former next year.
Masina also urged the artists not to despair but keep working hard as funds did not permit this time around for the South African tournament.
Asked how much they were allocated, he declined to reveal figures but opted to say it was not enough.