Kicking to the top

By Oscar Pilipili

Ronald Lukalo was among the first indigenous Kenyans to join tae kwondo. He joined the sport at seven years of age and has risen through the ranks to become a world-class umpire.

The fifth dan black belt holder is one of the successful participants of the recent World Tae Kwondo Federation (WTF) training in Nairobi.

Lukalo says the latest development is set to change the landscape of the sport in Kenya.

"Countries with many qualified technical officials have an advantage since their umpires attend WTF refresher courses and learn new rules," he said.

Technical know-how

"The knowledge they gain then cascades down to upcoming players who get to understand the technical know-how of the game," he said.

Ronald Lukalo Photo: Govedi Asutsa/Standard

Lukalo says a country needs to have its members in technical committees during competitions to push their own agenda.

"Past experience has proved that it is very difficult to lodge complaints if you don’t have your own in a technical committee during a competition," he said.

Lukalo’s turning point came when he bagged a bronze medal at the 1987 All Africa Games in Nairobi, aged 21.

"I don’t rate the bronze as a major achievement because the sport was for demonstration purposes," he recalled.

The performance, however, encouraged Lukalo who went ahead to claim silver medal at British Open Championship in 1991.

The player was in the Kenyan team when tae kwondo was accepted as a competitive sport during the 1997 All Africa Games in South Africa.

More medals

He was assistant trainer in the national team to the Olympics qualifiers in Libya, where Dickson Wamwiri and Milka Akinyi made it to Beijing Summer Games.

He believes tae kwondo has the potential to win Kenya more medals at international competitions.

"Tae kwondo can be next to athletics in terms of winning medals if well taken care of," he said.

Lukalo plans to set up an academy for the less fortunate and help bring other players to his level.

"Some children may lack education but have talent. These are the ones I look forward to have in my academy," he said.

He said he was inspired to the sport by first dan black belt holder Govedi Asutsa and Patrick Ngana back in 1980s.

Ngana and Asutsa were among the first six Africans to attain the black belt honours back in 1980s.

Kenya was among the first countries to introduce tae kwondo as a sport and several countries like Zimbabwe brought their players here for lessons.