Bruised and battered but gritty Senthil gets sweet revenge
KARATE exponent S. Senthil Kumaran is one who believes in the adage “no retreat, no surrender”.
And that led him to his second SEA Games gold after a hard-fought 5-3 win over Filipino Jayson Ramil Macaalay in the men’s kumite below 60kg final at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).
The 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist went on the offensive right from the start and stayed steady – despite the barrage of blows to his body and even a hard one to his head.
The 25-year-old screamed and punched his fists in the air in sheer delight after being declared the winner.
And he has every reason to celebrate considering everything that has gone against him recently.
He fractured his ankle two months ago and recovered three weeks before the Games began.
Last week, he came down with fever.
“It has been tough, my injury and illness. But I’m glad that it’s all ended well,” said Senthil.
“The final was sweet revenge for me as I lost to the Filipino in an Asian tournament in 2013.”
He won the same event at Myanmar 2013.
There were four finals on the opening day of the karate competition, which is making a comeback to the Games after being dropped from Singapore 2015.
Malaysia won two other finals through Lim Chee Wei (men’s individual kata) and Celine Lee Xin Yi (women’s individual kata) yesterday.
Malaysia failed to win the fourth gold when 18-year-old Pressy Misty Philip went down 4-3 to Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Hong Anh in the women’s above 68kg category.