Karate
Malaysian national karate coach Arivalagan Ponniyah is tipping his eight-member karate squad to return from Doha with two gold medals and eight overall.
Team captain and Busan 2002 gold medallist Puvaneswaran Ramasamy is Malaysia’s best karate prospect. The highly experienced 32 year-old will be contesting his fourth Asian Games in the kumite -55 kg category and is a Southeast Asian Games and Asian Championship winner.
"Puvaneswaran has been in this sport since the age of 14 and has been fighting since 1990. I believe he will still be able to contribute in Doha," said Arivalagan, a bronze medallist at the 1988 Bangkok Asian Games.
Arivalagan believes his squad of six kumite (fighting) and two kata (demonstration) competitors can win two gold medals in Doha after encouraging performances in the World Championships in Finland in October when Yamini Gopalasamy (women’s -60 kg), Marial Vasantha (women’s -48 kg) and Lim Yoke Wai (men’s -65 kg) reached semifinals in kumite.
"We have been competing in the World Championship since 1972, but for the first time we advanced to the semifinal stage; that is an improvement in my opinion, so I hope that the inspiring performances by the athletes will continue in Doha."
"We came back with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals from Busan so this time we hope to return with eight medals from Doha."
The Karate event had begun on 12 December, but on the 1st day, Malaysia already bagged 5 medal, including 4 silver and a bronze. Ramasamy Puvaneswaran, Lakanathan Kunasilan, Ku Jin Keat and Anthony Vasantha Marial had won a silver in Men's Kumite -55 kg, Men's Kumite -60 kg, Men's individual Kata and Women's Kumite -48 kg events respectively, while Lim Lee Lee won a bronze in Women's individual Kata event.
| Event | Medal | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Men's Kumite -55 kg | RAMASAMY Puvaneswaran | |
| Men's Kumite -60 kg | LAKANATHAN Kunasilan | |
| Men's Kumite -65 kg | LIM Yoke Wai | |
| Men's individual Kata | KU Jin Keat | |
| Women's Kumite -48 kg | ANTHONY Vasantha Marial | |
| Women's Kumite -60 kg | GOPALASAMY Yamini | |
| Women's individual Kata | LIM Lee Lee |
Read more about this topic: Malaysia At The 2006 Asian Games
Famous quotes containing the word karate:
“Since mothers are more likely to take children to their activities—the playground, ballet or karate class, birthday parties—they get a chance to see other children in action.... Fathers usually don’t spend as much time with other people’s kids; because of this, they have a narrower view of what constitutes “normal” behavior, and therefore what should or shouldn’t require parental discipline.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)