The Sunday Mail
Ralston Muchoko
ITAI SANGO is still waiting for a chance to fight in Zimbabwean colours but until that happens the 30-year-old is happy to continue raising the Mozambican flag in Taekwondo.
Sango came fourth at the 2018 Taekwondo African Championship in Morocco last weekend but believes he could have placed even better had he managed to hold his nerve.
“I lost the semi-finals due a slight mistake,” he said.
“I went into the ring with the fear that I was to fight the man who won a silver medal at the world championships 2015.”
Sango is now ranked 38 in the world and has since been invited to take part at the International Taekwondo Ranking Championship to be held in Russia later this year.
And like he has done for most of his career he will be fighting with the Mozambican flag on his gear.
“I cannot run away from the fact that I am son of the soil who was born in Nyanga but sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do. The Mozambicans treat me like their own and I fight like their own.
“However, if I manage to get serious sponsors in Zimbabwe I am willing to come back home and fight as a Zimbabwean,” said the athlete who is married to a Mozambican.
Sango, who was encouraged pursue martial arts seriously by his mother and late uncle, has twice participated at the world championships and is eager to win an international title before he retires.
“It has always been my dream and will not rest until it has come true. Next up on my schedule is Russia and that will be no stroll in the park because it’s a gathering of the best in the world. What it means is that I have to train even harder and condition myself better,” he said.
