* The 4th gold was won on June 23 in the +87 kg Senior category at the Premier Open Championships 2024
* The other three were won in March at the Ultimate Open Championship 2024 and the Army Open Championship in February
By Duncan Mlanjira
UK-based Malawian taekwondo Master, Yamikani Guba on Saturday attained a gold medal in the +87kg Senior category at the Interservices Championships 2024 and the following day he won a silver at the 4th Wales International Taekwondo Championships held at the Wales National Stadium.
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The gold medal is his 5th this year alone — the 4th won in the +87 kg Senior category at the Premier Open Championships 2024 on June 23, held at the University of Huddersfield.
The other three were won at the Army Open Championship in February in WT Poomsae Masters category; alongside +87kgs kyorugi (fighting) at the championships held at the Army Combat Centre in Aldershot and at the Ultimate Open Championship 2024 in Vets +87kgs held at the Metrodome Lesuire Centre, Sheffield in March.
Representing the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, Guba was also awarded the UK Armed Forces Martial Arts (UKAF MAA) Colours by the president of UKAF MAA.
“The Interservice is the biggest championship within the UK Armed Forces, where the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and the Army compete with each other every year.
“This year, the Army World Taekwondo retained the title again,” said Guba, who is a Sergeant in the British Army and also captain for the Army WT team.
“June has been successful and a very busy month for me, competing pretty much every weekend — no rest for the wicked!”
Last year alone, Guba won 15 medals of 6 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze that earned him the Malawi Sports Awards Sportsman of the Year 2023 and the same achievements were recognized by UK (North) Army Sport Trophy Awards, that nominated him for the Most Outstanding Male Sports Person and he came second.
Guba has also been recognized in several occasions for his achievement fighting for British Army Taekwondo team, which he has captained since 2010.
He has over 250 medals to his name – of which more than 190 are gold and Sergeant Guba was also recognized by the British military with medals of valor having deployed to theatre of war such as Afghanistan, Iraq and other war zones.
UK military medals are awarded to all service personnel, both active and veterans, for their long or valuable service, good conduct and for their services in a particular operation or specific theatre of war zones.
He has deployed to Afghanistan in 3 operations since he joined the UK and has taken part in overseas exercises in Europe, Canada, Kenya and South Korea among others.
This is documented by blackhistorymonth.org.uk in a special feature in December ahead of the global celebration of Black History Month — the recognition of blacks for their contributions to society; both past and present.
What attracted blackhistorymonth.org.uk was Guba’s ‘selfless commitment’ acknowledging that he chose to go to the war in Afghanistan at the expense of competing at the Olympic Games representing Malawi.
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“It’s not a choice most of us will ever have to make,” said the report by Harriet Steer. “But this was the reality for Sergeant (Sgt) Yamikani Guba in 2011.”
Guba, who holds a Malawian passport, has represented Malawi at international level, and Steer wrote that he had the chance to compete for Malawi in the London 2012 Olympics, but instead went to Afghanistan for the second time.
When the Army’s senior leadership learned of his actions, Sgt Guba received a General Officer Commanding (GOC) Commendation for selfless commitment.
The phenomenon athlete learnt his Martial Arts at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) at the age of 10 at the inspiration of his family members and he later relocated to UK in 2004 to study the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM-postgraduate).
He went on to join the British Army in 2007 where he was recruited in the British Army Martial Arts team in 2008 — competing in both Taekwondo and Kendo at international and national level.
He is the only highly-graded personnel in UK Armed Forces Taekwondo team and his most recent and notable achievement is his grading to Kukkiwon World Taekwondo 5th Dan/ Degree black belt attained last year.
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