Facing the axe

Makaf decide to axe karate coach after two major failures

Malaysian national karate coach Andris Vasiljevs will have to pay the price for the team’s two major failures this year. The Malaysia Karate Federation (Makaf) have decided to axe the Latvian although the qualifying campaign for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is already in motion.

PETALING JAYA: It will be less than two years before karate makes its debut at the Tokyo Olympics but things are not looking good for the national team.

Latvian coach Andris Vasiljevs now has to pay the price for the team’s failure to win a gold at the Asian Karate Championships in Jordan in July and the Asian Games in Jakarta in August.

The Malaysia Karate Federation (Makaf ) exco have decided that Vasiljevs will have to go despite the fact that the qualifying campaign for the Tokyo Olympics has already started.

Out-going Makaf secretary Vincent Chen confirmed that the Latvian coach will no longer be in charge of the national kumite team next year but refused to elaborate.

“There will definitely be a new coach handling the national team for the SEA Games preparation next year but let’s wait until the Makaf Biennial General Meeting this Sunday,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Vasiljevs is believed to have been informed of the decision and the World Karate Championships in Madrid two weeks from now should be his last assignment with the national exponents.

Vasiljevs started coaching the Malaysian team in 2012 and the 38-year-old guided Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan to win a silver at the 2014 world meet in Bremen, Germany, and to be ranked the world No. 1 in her weight category at one point.

Syakilla lost by just one point in the women’s kumite below 61kg final in Bremen and it is still the best-ever performance by a Malaysian expo- nent at the world championships.

However, Vasiljevs’s days were numbered after the team returned from the Asian Games with only one bronze medal won by S. Prem Kumar in the men’s kumite below 60kg category.

It was the worst performance for Malaysian karate at the Asian Games as Syakilla and kata exponent Lim Chee Wei failed to retain the titles they won at the previous edition in Incheon, South Korea, four years ago.

The Asian championships marked the start of the Olympic qualifying process but the kumite team had a dismal outing with Syakilla failing to make the weight class while Prem contributed just one bronze.

Malaysia won three silvers at the meet, all from the kata exponents.