Sabah karatekas put up good fight at Combat Festival
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah exponents shone at the Combat Festival Karate Championships held in Penang recently.
Sabah Karate Association (SKA) secretary-general Julian Chin said the tournament, which was held at the Shang Wu Primary School, attracted cadet and junior karatekas from all over Malaysia.
According to Julian, four youngsters from Sabah won gold medals while two others bagged a silver and bronze medal, respectively.
The gold medal winners were Nur Rasyiqah Fari’ah, Mohd Irfan Shah, Tang Xiang Zong and Muhammad Rafiuddin Faiz.
Irfan and Rasyiqah won the 7-9 years old Boys’ and Girls’ Individual Kata respectively, while Tang won the 10-11 years old Boys’ Individual Kata and Rafiuddin won the Boys’ 1415 years old Kumite +70kg.
Brandon Zimito won silver in the 14-15 years old Boys’ Individual Kata, while another athlete, Shahadad, won bronze in the 12-13 years old boys’ Individual Kata.
“Six of our athletes took part in this championship for cadet and junior exponents. All of them returned home with medals including four gold. It was a very good outing,” Julian said.
For the record, Sabah concluded third behind overall winners Goshin Ryu (11 gold, eight silver, 15 bronze) and PDRM Team A (five gold, six silver, 12 bronze).
A total of 19 clubs and teams took part in the one-day event, which was organised by the Penang Karate Federation.
Meanwhile, the SKA continued to yield impressive results from tournaments throughout the national scene this year.
After a surprise outing in SUKMA last year, SKA has continued its development efforts to produce more young talents for the future.
“We are always focused in our efforts to produce new talents and we will continue to do our best to groom the young ones so that they become champions in the future,” Julian said.
Towards this end, Julian thanked all the young athletes’ parents for their continued support.
“I think without the continued support of all the parents, it would be very difficult for SKA to find new talents for the sport,” he said.