Karateka Shahmalarani finally strikes gold
KUALA LUMPUR: The colours kept getting better for karateka C. Shahmalarani. This time it is gold.
The Malaysian ended her gold drought at the Southeast Asian Karate Federation (SEAKF) championships by coming out tops in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on Thursday. This is also a timely boost for her Sea Games challenge in Thailand in December.
Shahmalarani, who won a bronze and a silver in previous SEAKF editions, captured the women's below 50kg kumite gold medal after defeating Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Thu 5-0 in the final.
The 26-year-old from Selangor said she is glad to finally finish top of the podium while the tournament in Brunei has enabled the national team to check out their potential Sea Games rivals.
Shahmalarani said though she has been consistently performing well — including winning a silver at the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan, last month — she still needs to keep improving.
"I'm quite happy to have finally won a gold medal at the SEAKF but I'm not 100 per cent satisfied with my performance.
"My semi-final against Thailand's Chanyanut Chippensuk was much harder than the final.
"This sport is quite subjective and the winning margins can be very close and there's no guarantee that you always beat the same opponents. I lost to the Thai fighter before in the SEAKF, I beat her this time, but she could beat me if we meet again.
"I have reached the half way mark of the year with good results, the Sea Games is our remaining major assignment. We will head to China for a training camp next."
Malaysia ended their campaign in Brunei with four golds in the senior category.
H. Sureeya Shankar won the men's below 60kg kumite gold, trouncing Cambodia's Ly Kouy Ha 10-0 in the final. S. Thevendran beat Thailand's Ingloy Natthakrit 5-3 in the men's below 55kg final.
The men's kumite team gold was won by the squad of Sureeya, Thevendran,
M. Pavithiran, S. Geerijaieswaran Pillai and V. Logen who beat Vietnam in the final.
Malaysia also bagged three bronzes, through Lovelly Anne (women's individual kata), McRoyce Donovan (men's below 75kg kumite) and the men's team kata trio of Luqman Syah Ahmad Jasman Syah, Aiqal Asmadie and Haznil Henry.
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