Established in 2015, the African Skateboarding Championships is an initiative sanctioned by World Skateboarding Grand Prix held annually at the Skateboarding World Championships at Kimberley Diamond Cup in Kimberley, South Africa. The goal of the African Skateboarding Championships is to develop the moral and level of skating all over the continent and allowing the chance for top African skaters to shine on a global platform. The first African Skateboarding Championships was held at the 2015 Skateboarding World Championships at Kimberley Diamond Cup and brought out skaters from all over the continent and outlying islands to compete for cash prizes and the title of African Skateboarding Champion.
In 2016 the program got better with many skateboarders attending the contest. Something bigger has been added “African Skateboarding Academy”. The Academy is aiming to provide professional training to African Skateboarders.
Briefly, You should know this by now for African Skateboarding Championships 2016;
Event/Program Organisers: 4
Photographers: 2
Qualifier Winners: 8
Selected Skateboarders: 9
Online Applications: 2
Invited Skateboarders:17
Others: 2
Drawing participants from Tanzania, Morocco, Madagascar, Angola, Zambia, Egypt, Uganda, Sudan, Mozambique, Mauritius, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Gabon, Botswana, Swaziland, and Namibia (excluding South Africa). This brings a total of 18 African National competing for the title of African Skateboarding Champion.
For organisers this is such a major breakthrough. The organisers believe, this is a room that African skateboarders should embrace and utilise. We believe that there are more to come for skateboarding in Africa, and we are ready to seize the opportunity and transform the way skateboarding is viewed in the continent. It is our dream to see skateboarding growing better as both sport and culture.
The inclusion of skateboarding in Olympic 2020 also gives hopes that sooner African Governments shall start to invest and finance the sport just like soccer and any other.
“I understand that World Skateboarding Federation (WSF) did not win the Olympic bid, but am confident that WSF still is the best option… However we believe that the winner, International Skateboarding Federation (ISF) and FIRS shall have development plans for Africa to ensure equal and fair judgement and inclusion for the Olympic in TOKYO 2020. I believe the Olympic will be managed by skateboarders, and there will be fairness, I wil hate to see Olympic skateboarding turned to be a circus!” said Augustine.
