Australia and Nigeria are among the teams that arrived in Mombasa on Saturday to participate in the 12th edition of the Mombasa Open Tong-Il Moo-Do International Martial Arts Championship.
The global tournament kicked off on Friday at Aga Khan Academy Multi-purpose Hall, Mombasa.
Although over 50 countries had confirmed participation in the tournament, about 20 are expected to feature in the event that has been a pale shadow of its former self in the last few years due to a funding crisis.
Other teams that have joined Vanuatu, who were the first participants to arrive in the country, include India, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, and Zambia.
While thanking the government through the Ministry of Sports for their relentless support, Kenya Tong-IL Moo-Do Federation (KTMF) president Clarence Mwakio said he is looking forward to a successful tournament.
"We expect more teams to arrive and take part in the competition from Sunday," said Mwakio.
“It’s a wonderful day because we have had very good presentations from different countries. The delegates have arrived from different continents, and we are having a good contest in spurring. This championship has been long-time waiting, but we are very happy to finally have it.
We thank the government for the support they have given us and getting us out of the woods. We expected more than 50 countries to come, but since we are technically jumpstarting the tournament from the upward trajectory we had in 2021, we have about 20 countries, but from all continents.”
He continued: “The next two days, we shall see the best teams perform and take the crown. We also wish to pass on our gratitude to our sponsors for their support.”
His sentiments were echoed by World Tong-Il Moo-Do Federation president, Grandmaster Takamitsu Hoshiko.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the Kenyan government for their support throughout the years. We expect to have a very competitive tournament in the coming few days,” said Hoshiko.
