Sabah karatekas eye honours at Brunei Open
KOTA KINABALU: Shotokan Karate Association of Sabah (SKAS) are vying for honours at the Shitokai Brunei KarateDo Open Championships, this weekend.
SKAS president Simon Chia said a total of 11 karatekas would be taking part in the international event involving participants from Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hungary, Malaysia and Brunei.
The athletes from Sabah competing under the SKAS banner include senior category entries Jay Calmulia Abd Rahman, Jay Calputera Abd Rahman, Mohd Nur Faiqal Abd Salim and Bryan Isidore Tubong.
Competing in the cadet category (14-15 years) will be Leon Liew Le Yuong, Juliet Sandra Ain Abd Rahman and Sylvianne Albert Labansin.
Shairul Mohamad Afiz and Juliet SutraNera Abd Rahman will compete in the 12-13 years category, while Andryan Chong Sze Hoong (10-11 years) and Valden Sinclair Cheon (89 years) will be the youngest representatives for SKAS.
Chia said the two-day championship at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex would be very competitive as it involves high-level athletes.
“This will be a benchmarking event for our athletes to gauge their standard as a preparation for up-coming tournaments early next year.
“We did not set any target but our athletes have trained and prepared well for this championship and we hope they will shine among the international exponents,” Chia said when contacted on Wednesday.
Towards this end, Chia thanked the organising chairperson Sensei Mohammad Nabil for inviting SKAS to take part in the championship.
The team departed for Brunei yesterday accompanied by Chia and other SKAS officials and coaches. - By Arfandi Jaafar