DEDICATION to the cause paid huge dividends for martial arts fanatic Kate Azima when she was crowned a world champion in Kumite (freestyle fighting) in Sweden.
Azima, who turned 17 in July and has been competing in karate for 11 years, was a runner-up in the World Championships in South Africa in 2014 and also won a bronze medal in Germany in 2016.
She has now realised her dream of becoming the world champion thanks to a brilliant set of performances in Stockholm, where she also won bronze in her Kata (formation routines) in individuals as well as bronze in team Kata.
Azima, who attended King’s High Warwick and is now doing her A-levels at Stratford Girls’ Grammar School, trains with the British world chief instructor, Shihan Eddie Daniels, in Dudley two to three times a week in the Kimura Shukokai style of karate.
