Malawian taekwondo expert Guba wins two silver medals in British championships in two weeks
Malawian UK-based taekwondo expert, Sergeant Yamikani Guba — who is with the British military — won a silver medal on Sunday at British National Taekwondo Championships held at the Copper Box Arena Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park — making it two silvers in under two weeks.
He won the other silver on October 24 at the North East Open Championships in Newcastle City while on October 17 he clinched gold at the Ultimate Open Championships held at the Metrodome Leisure centre in Barnsley.
In Sunday’s championship, Guba reached the quarterfinals in which he won against Tony Mcneil from Raw Taekwondo Club from Scotland through a technical decision by the referee.
He went on to win the semifinal by technical knockout in the first round against Chris Webley from Black Widow Club.
“The final was very close,” Guba said in an interview. “My opponent Sean O’Neil from Waterside Club won on points but on 2 points difference.
“I am, nevertheless, very happy that I gave him a good run for his gold medal.”
“Many thanks to Master Ben Shaw for all the great coaching tips as well as to family and friends who always support me, not forgetting the chain of command of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, British Army Taekwondo, Army Sports Control Board and Talented Athlete UK for support.”
Guba is captain for the British Army Taekwondo team since 2010 and is also selected to represent the team at the World Masters’ Games 2022 in Tokyo.
In June, Guba successfully passed the World Taekwondo Kukkiwon 5th Degree/Dan Black Belt during grading that was held in Aldershot at the Combat Sports Centre which was conducted by a panel of highly graded Masters that included head coach and director of Wessex Taekwondo senior Master John Harrison.
Guba won his last title in March 2020 just before the CoVID-19 lockdown — a silver medal attained at the Yorkshire Open Championships held in Halifax, UK.
A week before the Yorkshire Open Championships, he won two gold and two silver medals — 1 in Kendo and another in Taekwondo — during the British Army Martial Arts Open Championships.
He accumulated six medals last year alone and altogether, he has now 246 accolades as his trophy trove that include medals, awards, trophies and recognitions in martial arts in general both at international and British national competitions.
Guba, who says he looks forward to promoting Taekwondo back in Malawi, was nominated for the 2019 Malawi Sport Awards’ Sportsman of the Year alongside men’s footballer Gabadinho Mhango and women footballer Tabitha Chawinga.
He arrived in the country to attend the Red Carpet gala but the award went to Tabitha, who was also voted as Best Overall Sports Personality for her excellent performance at her club in China which made her be nominated for Confederation of African Football (CAF) Player of the Year award.
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 his family members and later relocated to UK in 2004 to study the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM-postgraduate) before joining 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.
Based in Larkhill at the Royal School of Artillery as a Phase 2 Instructor as a Sergeant, Guba has also been previously honoured by the British military when he was named the third best British Military Sportsperson of the Year achiever.
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