Italian builds world-class martial arts dojo to Rivers State

Chief Marco Purgatorio, an Italian and board member of the Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN), has built a world-class martial arts dojo in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital.

The dojo, which is a hall for training and development of combat sports, is the first and only dojo in Nigeria for Kick boxing, karate and Judo with a state of the art facility.

Commissioning the dojo in Port Harcourt at the weekend, Rivers State Sports Commissioner, Boma Iyaye, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in his ministry, James Enebeli said the dojo was “a giant stride achieve by a sacrificial heart.

“So, I congratulate Chief Purgatorio for this giant stride because it is not easy for even indigenes to develop a gym and dojo such as this.

“It shows the level of love you have for sports development because this is coming from an individual, a sacrificial heart.”

Iyaye assured Purgatorio and the Karate Federation that his ministry would support and take advantage of the facility to develop talent in the state. 

Also speaking at the event, KFN Technical Director, Dave Jegede, who described the dojo as one of the best in the world, stressed that it has already started yielding results as the athletes that camped in Port Harcourt for Karate and kick boxing championship on the continent finished respectably at the events.

“When you take a look around, you will see the gym… that gym is complete with all types of muscular articulation training, flexibility training and cardiovascular training,” Jegede said.