The runners-up of the prestigious award
* He and the other nominees finished as runners-up at the event held at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy on Thursday
* It was a great event, and I appreciated being recognised for my contributions to Army taekwondo sport
By Duncan Mlanjira
UK-based Malawian taekwondo Master, Sergeant Yamikani Guba was nominated for the British Army Sports Awards 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award but he and the other nominees finished as runners-up at the Gala Night on Thursday, November 14.
The ceremony took place at the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy where the Army football’s coach, Major Joe Collins was the winner of Lifetime Achievement Award 2024.
“It was a great event and I appreciated being recognised for my contributions towards Army taekwondo sport,” said the Sergeant, who serves in British Army’s 4th Regiment Royal Artillery.
This recognition comes after he was also awarded ‘Dan Player of the Year 2024’ by the British Army Taekwondo Association at a ceremony held on November 6 at the Wessex Elite Taekwondo Performance Sports Centre in Dorset, UK for his best performance of the year.
The British Army celebrates the best performances of its sportsmen and women and according to a report on British Army Sports website, the Army Sportswoman of the Year was awarded to Army Athletics star Lieutenant Kate Olding, who enjoyed a successful season on the track, road and in cross country.
Army Sportsman of the Year went to Olympic rower Corporal Stephen Cox, who was the sole competitor for Zimbabwe at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris where he competed in the men’s single sculls.
The Army Rugby Union team won Team of the Year, after their unforgettable clash against the Royal Navy at Twickenham while the Rising Star award went to sharpshooter Sapper Emilia Faulkner and Official of the Year went to Ice Hockey’s Corporal Andrew Cooke.
Guba has won many medals this year that include 5 gold medals, earning him the Army Taekwondo Dan Player of the Year 2024 and the nomination for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
He won his 5th gold medal in July 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.
The other 4 gold medals were won in the +87 kg Senior category at the Premier Open Championships 2024 on June 23, held at the University of Huddersfield; 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.
In September, Guba was forced to bow out of the quarter-finals of the British Taekwondo National Championship 2024 in the +87 kg Senior category due to an injury during the event held at the English Institute of Sports.
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He had said although he was determined to continue the fight, he had to make a wise decision to bow out during the match in the second round as he didn’t want to aggravate the injury in order to recover in good time to compete at the Belgium Open end of this year.
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 recognised 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 recognised 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.
Guba said he is currently looking forward to completing the British Taekwondo Level 2 coaching course, which is fully funded by the Army Martial Arts Association.
“I began the British Taekwondo Level 2 course in January 2024,” he said. “This year-long program includes practical training, theory lessons, and assessments.
“There are seven of us in this course from the Army Taekwondo team whom we were were all recommended by our team manager and our head coach due to our hard work and seniority within the Army Taekwondo team — hence funded by the Army Martial Arts Association.
“The results will be announced in January next year and I’ve worked very hard during the course as I look forward to coach Malawian taekwondo athletes in the near future all goes well.”
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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 some two years ago.
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