Malawian taekwondo athlete Guba wins bronze at 2019 British Championship
Malawian Taekwondo athlete, Yamikani Guba, who is with the British military, has done it again by collecting a bronze medal during the 2019 British Taekwondo National Championships held on 9-10 November at the UK Cycling National Centre in Manchester.
He represented the UK Armed Forces (UKAF) Taekwondo team as captain in the heavy weight category +87kgs.
Guba was among the 6 strong men and women formed the best Team ever for UKAF and he made it to the semi finals that ended in controversy in which he clean knocked out his opponent Mark Warbuton of Black Widow Taekwondo Club.
His opponent could not finish the fight any more till the medical team took him of the mat but in controversial circumstances, the silver medal went to Mark Warbuton even if he couldn’t fight anymore.
“This upset many of my spectators and fans as this was one of the exciting match of the day based on most of the spectators.
“But the referee’s decision is final and we had to respect that,” said Guba, who won the silver medal last month, just after 11 days of achieving the same feat at the London International Open.
Last month’s silver was won at the National Taekwondo Club Championship in Nottingham, also representing the British Army Taekwondo team in the same heavyweight category +87kgs which had four competitors.
“I feel so good because I am building up experience towards the next lines of competitions coming up,” Guba says.
“My future plans is to keep training, improving and to win more medals on the circuit.”
He said he is hoping to one day further promote the sport in Malawi as eyes to represent Malawi at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics qualifications games to be held in Rabat, Morocco in February 2020.
During the championships held at Lee Valley Athletics Centre 11 days ago organised by the Universal Taekwondo Federation (UTF), Guba had four KO’s and lost in the extra time of the finals stage.
Guba, who holds a 4th Dan Black Belt in taekwondo from the World Taekwondo Federation, has represented Malawi Taekwondo team in recent World Taekwondo Championship held in Manchester in on May 19 and also in the 2016 Rio Olympics qualifications which was held in Agadir, Morocco.
Originally from Blantyre District, he also holds a 2nd Dan in both Judo and Karate and a 1st Dan in Kendo.
He learnt his Martial Arts at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) at the age of 10 at the inspiration of my family members and relocated to UK in 2004 to study the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM-postgraduate) and thereafter he decided to join the British Army in 2007.
He joined the British Army Martial Arts team in 2008, competing in both Taekwondo and Kendo at international and national level.
In 2016, the British military awarded Guba with the title of the best senior fighter for its Taekwondo team in which he is the captain.
Guba has achieved many medals over the years on both national and international level of fighting.
This is not the first time for Guba to be honoured by the British military in the past as he was named the third best British Military Sportsperson of the Year achiever.
Guba once was national taekwondo coach and one of the founders of Taekwondo Association Malawi at a young age.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :