President awarded with honorary 7th Dan Black Belt

President-receives-7th-dan-certificate-March-26-2014

Georgetown : President Donald Ramotar was presented with a honorary 7th Dan Black Belt by Sensei Frank Woon-a Tai, who along with other martial arts officials paid a courtesy call on the Head of State.

According the Sensei Woon-a-Tai, himself a 9th Dan Grand Master, the President will now be accorded the recognised status and respect, of a master proponent of the Martial Arts.

Sensei Woon-a-Tai is the head of the International Karate Daigaku (College), an institution recognised in 26 nations. The IKD will be hosting its annual South American Martial Arts Championships on Saturday and Sunday, from 10am, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. More than 100 competitors from Guyana, Venezuela and Suriname will be participating in the prestigious event. The first Canadian/Guyanese graduate of the JKA/ISKF Instructor Training Institute, and a 1978 Pan American kata champion, Master Woon-A-Tai is a recipient of the French Guiana Medal of Service for over 25 years of karate service in that country. In October 2011, he was made a Member of the Order of Guyana and received the Medal of Service from President Bharrat Jagdeo.

In 2005, he was inducted in the ISKF Canada Hall of Honour. In 2009, he received the Mayor of Georgetown’s Award for his lifetime of service to youths of Guyana.