Rohomans create karate history
Guyana Chronicle
April 8, 2004
SIBLINGS Richard and Nadia Rohoman created history by becoming Guyana’s first brother-sister karatekas to reach the second degree black belt together, after Monday’s grading examinations at the Thomas Lands YMCA.
Master Teruyuki Okazaki, a 9th Dan black belt, conducted the examinations, assisted Sensei Charles Woon-A-Tai, 5th Dan, and Amir Khouri, 4th Dan.
The Rohomans were graded in their individual techniques together, but did different katas and sparred with different opponents.
Another brother-sister pair reached second degree black belts, but not together. They were Arifa and Nishan Khanan, with Nishan, the older of the two, getting his in 1995 and Arifa in 1997, also under Master Okazaki, who is the Chairman and Chief Instructor of the International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF).
The Jairam brothers - Jeremy and Justin, both reached 2nd Dan, with the older brother Jeremy going on to 3rd Dan.
The three pairs of siblings represented Guyana at the ISKF Pan-American championships, bringing back medals.
The Khanams and Jairams are now residing in North America.
In the recent examinations, five students went for the first degree black belt, but just three were successful - Judah Cozier, Kelvin Samaroo and Cynthia Singh.
Among 138 graded for their Kyu belts, two were outstanding and skipped grades. Jacob Richards moved from White to Orange, skipping Yellow and David Melville went from Orange to Purple, bypassing Green.
In other results, 23 students passed to Yellow belt (8th Kyu), 40 to Orange (7th Kyu), 15 to Green (6th Kyu), 12 to first Purple (5th Kyu), 13 to second Purple (4th Kyu), 20 to first Brown (3rd Kyu), eight to second Brown (2nd Kyu) and seven to first Brown (1st Kyu).
The first Browns will next go for their Black belts. (Isaiah Chappelle)