The sky is the limit for Guba
* Bags in 4 gold and 2 silver medals in first quarter of 2023
* 2 gold and a silver won at the Army Open Championships last week
* First gold medal attained at the Ultimate Taekwondo Championships on January 22
* Fist silver at the 50th Anniversary Dutch Open Taekwondo on March 11
By Duncan Mlanjira
Malawi’s only heavyweight professional taekwondo athlete, Yamikani Guba — who earned 10 medals last year alone — has added a gold medal on his trophy trove after winning his 4th in the first quarter of 2023.
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The 4th gold medal was attained on Saturday at Midlands Open Taekwondo Championships held at Sports and Wellness Hub, Coventry University, which is the last competition of the 2023 first quarter, in which he now has 6 — 4 gold and 2 silver.
The first gold medal was attained at the Ultimate Taekwondo Championships on January 22 while the 2 gold and the silver medals were won at the Army Open Championships held at the Army Combat Centre in Aldershort last weekend.
Guba — a Sergeant in the British military under the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery — also won a silver at the 50th Anniversary Dutch Open Taekwondo Championships, held at the Indoor Sportcentrum Eindhoven in the Netherlands on March 11.
He says he ain’t done yet as he is now looking forward to the British International Open Championship and the European Masters to be held in Finland.
Last week, he indicated that the winnings are giving him additional focus for the next games representing the British Army Taekwondo team. The Malawian from Blantyre District attained 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze just last year alone — ending it with a silver medal at the LMC Taekwondo Championships held at Places Eastleigh Leisure Centre in Southampton in December.
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.
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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.
He is captain for the British Army Taekwondo team since 2010 and he now over 250 accolades on his trophy trove that include medals, awards, trophies and recognitions in martial arts in general both at international and British national competitions.
Guba 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.
He also holds a 2nd Dan in both Judo and Karate and a 1st Dan in Kendo and 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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