Shihan Uytenbogaardt, a Kyokushin Karate man who has achieved international acclaim, started karate in 1965, and joined Kyokushin Karate in 1974.
He quickly established an awesome reputation in tournaments, both locally and overseas. He was the third highest placed Westerner at the 1984 World Tournament, having been prevented from participating in the 1979 World Tournament, due to the sporting ban on South Africa.
Since 1979, he was acclaimed in Japan, frequently appearing on Japanese television, and even became a comic book hero! In 1980 he thrilled a huge crowd at the Good Hope Centre, by smashing two piles of ice, each containing 5 X 90kg blocks of ice, with separate hand strikes.
In 1981, he won a Gold Medal at the South African Games for non-contact karate, and he retired, undefeated, as the South African Kyokushin Champion.
He further established his right to international recognition when he was appointed by Sosai Oyama as one of only three Westerners on the international technical panel of Kyokushin Karate.
In 1991 he was appointed as the Chairman of the Southern and Central Africa branch of the International Karate Organisation.
He was a regular guest of Sosai Oyama in Japan, and together they gave content to the dream of taking Kyokushin Karate into the rest of the Southern and Central African region, the first major component being the First All Africa Knockdown Karate Tournament.
