Frustrated Syakilla returns home to work on fitness
PETALING JAYA: A dejected national karate exponent Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan will be returning home to work on her fitness after a terrible trip in Europe.
Syakilla picked up injuries and failed to compete in two tournaments lined up for her – the Karate 1 Premier League in Dubai in February and the Karate 1 Series A in Salzburg, Austria, last weekend.
She has been based in Amsterdam since January in an effort to improve on her world rankings and increase a chance to win a ticket for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but her first two no-shows has forced the Malaysia Karate Federation (Makaf ) to step in.
Makaf want to get her injury woes sorted out and secretary general Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad said they had asked National Sports Council (NSC) to get Syakilla to work with the National Sports Institute (NSI) to improve on her fitness.
“Syakilla couldn’t compete in Salzburg because she suffered muscle cramps... this is the second time she couldn’t compete due to injures. It looks like she’s not fit enough at the moment,” said Nur Azmi.
“It’s best for her to solve the injury issues first. NSC will get her to work with ISN to be injury-free before competing in other tournaments.”
Meanwhile, Nur Azmi said two other exponents – S. Premkumar and P. Madhuri – did well to meet a third-round target set for them at the Karate 1 Series A in Salzburg.
Premkumar crashed out 0-1 in the third round after losing to Azerbaijan’s Firdovsi Farzaliyev in the men’s below 55kg while Madhuri crashed out 0-6 to Chen Jiaxin of China in the women’s below 50kg event.
Debutant A. Somanroy was a first-round casualty after losing 2-7 to Franklin Mina of Ecuador in the men’s above 84kg category while Syarulniza Abdul Jamil, who competed under the Labuan banner, crashed out in third round after losing 2-5 to Sara Abdou Lala of
Egypt in the women’s below 55kg category.
“Somanroy is competing for the first time at this stage so it was more
of a good exposure for him. We approved Syarulniza’s participation as she competed under the funding from Labuan Karate Association.”