Good news for karate
Makaf happy sport finally enters Olympic Games
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Karate Federation (Makaf) are delighted that the sport has been accepted into the Olympic fold.
Karate has joined skateboarding, surfing, wall climbing and baseball/softball as the five new sports confirmed for the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
The five extra sports were unanimously voted in by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday.
The five new sports, involving 18 medal events and hundreds of athletes, will not replace any of the 28 already on the Tokyo schedule.
Karate is expected to have the most number of events – eight (six in kumite and two in kata) – under the proposal to the Tokyo Olympic organisers and will be held at the iconic Tokyo Budokan Arena.
“The karate community, including us, have worked hard to support the Olympic cause,” said Makaf secretary Vincent Chen.
“We’re happy that it’s finally in after trying unsuccessfully for the last three Olympics.
“It is one sport Malaysia stands to gain as I believe we will have exponents able to compete with the world’s best by then.
“We have already set up a training committee aimed at producing exponents who can qualify for the Olympics.
“Our aim is to produce an Olympic medallist ... if possible a gold medallist.
“We’ve recruited exponents aged between 16 and 17 and separated them into two training groups.
“It is from this two groups that we hope to unearth the best to qualify for the Olympics.
“I understand that the limit is 10 exponents for each event, so the qualification standards could be very high.”
Olympic Council of Malaysia ( OCM) president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Jaafar, who is in Rio for the IOC Session, hopes that karate will be a sport Malaysia can realistically hope for a medal in Tokyo.
“We expected karate to get in as the sport originated from Japan,” he said.
“Malaysia are a powerhouse in karate at the SEA Games and have always delivered gold in the Asian Games. Now, we have to focus on what needs to be done so that we can win at the Olympic level.”
The inclusion of the sport has given hope to exponents like Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan and the men’s kata team of Hoe Thomson, Emmanuel Leong and Ricky Leong to realise their dreams of becoming Olympians.