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Thursday November 12, 2009

Karate exponents not expected to match Korat’s eight-gold haul

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: Two years ago the Malaysian karate squad hauled in a bumper yield of eight gold medals at the Korat SEA Games.

This time, however, chances are our exponents will not be so productive as seasoned campaigners Lim Yoke Wai and Ku Jin Keat will miss the Laos Games in Vientiane next month.

Yoke Wai, the 2006 Doha Asian Games silver medallist, has had to give up his place after undergoing surgery for a ligament tear sustained during training recently.

Yoke Wai was the toast of the karate team in Korat when he won the below 65kg and Open categories, making him the first Malaysian exponent in the series to clinch two individual gold medals.

Another Asian Games silver medallist, L. Kunasilan, will take Yoke Wai’s spot in the individual below 60kg kumite.

Jin Keat, who is also an Asiad silver medallist, will not be defending his individual kata title as he has yet to fully recover from a knee operation early this year.

He also did not compete in the Asian Championships in Foshan in September.

In his absence, Tan Chee Sheng will lead the men’s kata team.

The others in the kata team are Kam Kah Sam and Ricky Leong.

Both Yoke Wai and Jin Keat have competed in every SEA Games since 2001 and their absence will affect the karate squad’s medal haul.

National kumite coach P. Arivalagan said he had no choice but to drop Yoke Wai from the Laos squad.

“His injury is quite serious and he needs time to recover. He is only expected to come back next year,” said Arivalagan.

“His absence is a big blow to us as we have to sacrifice the below 65kg category.

“Kunasilan was supposed to concentrate on the team event but he will now be competing in the below 60kg category.”

The other male exponents bound for Laos are R. Puvaneswaran (below 55kg), Shaharudin Jamaludin (below 75kg) and Mohd Hatta (below 84kg). Loganeesha Rao, K. Taegarajan, G. Nagatheeban and P. Pavitern will focus on the men’s team event.

G. Vathana (below 55kg), G. Yamini (below 61kg) and Jamaliah Jamaludin (below 68kg) will carry the women’s challenge while Vasantha Marial and G. Yugneswary will focus on the women’s team event.

In the kata event, Lim Lee Lee will defend her individual SEA Games title as well as partner Thoe Ai Poh and Tan Shi Ying for the team event.

The restriction on the number of exponents for karate and the omission of the men’s and women’s Open categories have also made it more difficult for Malaysia to garner more gold medals.

Malaysia’s G. Yamini won the women’s Open gold medal in Korat.

Despite the setbacks, Arivalagan is hopeful of returning with at least four gold medals.

“That’s the official target set by the association when we selected the squad and we will stick with it,” he said.

“It’s definitely more challenging this time around as we are unable to field exponents in certain events simply because of the cap on the number of entries.”

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