RENOWNED Zimbabwe Karateka Sensei Sneider Adam beat Zambian Davie Mwando at the Kickboxing Road to Moscow Tournament held over the weekend in Lusaka Zambia.
The Road to Moscow tournament was used to select the World Kickboxing Grand Prix Championships, which will be held in Russia this year.
At least 16 countries took part in the Fight Night tournament, and Sensei Adam, on his debut Kickboxing tournament, won with a Technical KnockOut after defeating Mwando in the second round of five bouts.
Sensei Adam was the only Zimbabwe representative at the tournament, and his other fellow countrymen could not travel to Zambia because of Covid-19 and lack of sponsorship.
Sensei Adam, who did his nation proud was happy with his performance in his debut kickboxing tournament.
“It was my first time participating in a Kickboxing tournament after being taught Kickboxing by a former champion who’s also my coach, Sensei Mugove Muhambi and my boxing coach Lowson Muhambi,” Sensei Adam told EnterSportNews.
“I am now guaranteed a place in Russia because I managed to qualify for the World Grand Prix. It’s really an honour to be selected for the World Championships after some time of not being in the ring.”
Sensei Adam does not believe he was lucky to win his fight but paid tribute to his coaches, who prepared him well for the tournament.
“Well, to be honest, I couldn’t say I was lucky because I am under the watchful eye of the great instructors who are also experts in this field,” he said.
“If I take a look at my Sensei, who’s a former Champion in Kickboxing and Karate, Sensei Mugove Muhambi, you’ll see that he managed to endure this because of hard work and dedication.”
Sensei Adam will not only be representing Zimbabwe at the World Championships but Africa. When he was making his kickboxing debut, he borrowed a lot from Karate to ensure victory, and by the time World Championships in Russia kick-off, he would be ready to take on the world.
“The main differences between kickboxing and karate, karate is most commonly referred to as a form of martial arts that occurs while standing, and though kickboxing also focuses on techniques such as blocking and takedowns the way Karate does, it also covers striking with hands, feet, elbows and knees,” he said.
“Well, the qualifications means a lot to my Instructors and me because it’s not easy to win as well as to be selected to represent Africa at large.
“Yes, I’ll be prepared to take part at the World Stage, and I believe with my Instructors who’ve been pushing me since the word go, I’ll be ready to go for it. I believe that with hard work, we’ll conquer, my training regime has been tuned to another level. We’re back on the correct board taking a lot of what should be worked on as well what we really need.”
