Ashihara karate |28 June 2025

Shihan Gregory Francis visits Seychelles Ashihara Karate Dojo

The Ashihara Karate Seychelles school was recently graced by the visit of Shihan Gregory Francis from the United Kingdom, who was in the country to attend a conference at the Savoy Resort & Spa, Beau Vallon.

Shihan Francis enjoyed the training and was impressed with the students at the dojo. Before coming to Seychelles, he had enquired about a karate dojo where he could keep up with his training whilst in the country and he was told that ‘this is the dojo you want to be at when you are in Seychelles’.

Shihan Egbert Moustache, the Ashihara Karate Seychelles (AKS) director, said when he responded to Shihan Francis’ email, he was not paying much attention as there are several visiting karatekas who email or text before coming to the dojo, adding that he only realised that he had with him a 6th dan British karate veteran who was a colleague of Ticky Donovan of the 1980s and 90s British national team that won several European Championships, only after they started talking at the dojo. 

Shihan Francis is one of the most progressive and respected karate instructors that the UK has produced.

He started training at the age of 11 and did several styles including Kyokushinkai with Shihan Steve Arneil, Wado Ryu and Ishinryu with Ticky Donovan and Shotokan with Shihan Kanazawa.

He has developed a training system called FIT2FITE which is gaining a lot of attention in the UK and elsewhere.

Shihan Francis is expected in Seychelles again and is looking forward to more interactions and exchanges which will benefit the AKS.

Shihan Moustache thanked Shihan Francis for his humbleness to line up like all other students and allowing himself to be ‘taught’ by lower ranked instructors, something that the visiting shihan appreciated by praising the quality of instruction.

Shihan Moustache added that the AKS is honoured to have such a high ranking British karate star training with them, even for one session before he left the country.

 “During his next visit, we will arrange for a joint training session with the other schools affiliated with the Seychelles Karate Federation, allowing Shihan Francis to share his techniques and experiences with all and not only AKS,” further noted Shihan Moustache.

Contributed