The tournament was organized on the occasion of the visit of the founder of Nanbudo to Cameroon.
Cameroon emerged overall winner of the Friendship Tournament that took place on Saturday August 11, 2012 at the Yaounde Sports complex to mark the end of the 21st international Nanbudo training seminar in Cameroon facilitated by the founder of Nanbudo, Yoshinao Nanbu. Cameroonian athletes carried the day in both the kata and randori competitions in the individual and team events. In the men’s individual kata event, Cameroon’s Mbomi Nestor beat Mbole Armel of the Central African Republic 17-9 while in the female individual kata event; Sandrine Doue beat Yombi Carole 19-4 on points. In the kata team events, Cameroon beat Jamaica 15-12 whereas in the randori team event Cameroon again beat Jamaica 17-8 in the men’s category while the women from Cameroon beat Burundi 20-4. Cameroon’s good performance is thanks to preparations made during an earlier international training workshop in La Playa d’Aro- Spain which took place from July 14th to 30th.
The competition brought together 204 nanbudokas from Senegal, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Switzerland, France, Jamaica and Cameroon. The tournament took place at the end of an international training seminar during which some nanbudokas changed grades. The first phase of the workshop took place in Douala from August 3rd to 5th and Yaounde took the relay from August 6th to 11th. During the Spanish outing, a Cameroonian, Yombi Jean Pierre Victor, was voted vice president of the world-wide Nanbudo Federation. The finals of the friendship tournament was presided by the Secretary General of the ministry of Sports and physical education in the presence of the Japanese Ambassador to Cameroon. The finals were graced with nanbudo demonstrations, cultural dance and the band of the higher institute of Youth and Sports. During his stay in Cameroon the Nanbudo founder was received in audience by the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang and the president of the Cameroon Nanbudo federation, François Mbassi was upgraded to the honorific rank of the black belt, 4th dan.
