The highly anticipated Mombasa Open Tong-IL-Moo-Do International Martial Arts Championship has been postponed by two days due to delays in fund disbursement from the government.
The tournament, which was to kick off on Friday at the Agha Khan Academy in Mombasa, will now commence on Sunday and end on Monday.
The federation had put in a request of about Sh250 million for the event budget and the national team Jasiri’s preparations, but were asked by the ministry to scale down to the tune of slightly above Sh100 million, which they were expecting to receive from the government.
The delay in disbursing the funds, Mwakio said, forced them to call for a consultative meeting with officials from their world federation, whereby they agreed to postpone the championships for two days.
The delay, he said, affected the delivery of very important safety and technical equipment.
It also affected the bringing in of international officials, whom he said must be part of the championships as per the required regulations.
The camp is being conducted by the World Tong-IL-Moo-Do Federation (WTIF) president grand master Takamitsu Hoshiko.
Grandmaster Hoshiko lauded the Kenyan government for its continued support towards the last 10 editions saying that Kenya remains a focal point for the growth and development of Tong-IL-Moo-Do in the region and across the continent at large.
“This is a very important tournament for us because it gives us a chance to meet and discuss so that we can forward with new plans and schedules to promote the sport in the world,”
“By inviting people from different countries to come participate, we have been having meetings on how to expand the sport so that it can help more people,” said Hashiko.
The founder of the sport Joon Ho Seuk is expected in Kenya on Saturday to spearhead discussions to promote the sport in other countries.
In Kenya, Tong-IL-Moo-Do has been in existence for the last 35 years.
The sport has a presence in 12 counties as the federation seeks to roll the sport to all 47 counties by the end of 2025.