PETALING JAYA: A private Malaysian karate team, which had travelled on credit to Paris with the help of a local travel agency, scored a huge success in the French Karate International Open, including the country’s first gold medal in a global meet, FMT reports.
The team comprises nine individuals who reportedly faced discrimination when trying to raise funds for the meeting in Lyon.
However, the team came back with at least a medal each in the tournament, which saw 12 countries taking part besides the home team, including India, Japan, Ukraine, Romania and Italy.
The group was led by the president of the International Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Sei-bu-kan Karate Do Association of Malaysia (IOSSKAM), Minalochuni Pathmanathan, who described the achievement as “exhilarating”.
“The icing on the cake was the gold medal won by 17-year-old Nivashini Sivaraman in the Kata category for the 15-17 age group. I believe this is the first ever gold medal in a world karate championship for Malaysia,” she told FMT.
Team manager A Yasodharan thanked a local travel agency for paying in advance for the flight to France, saying it showed they had faith in the youngsters. He added that local airlines turned them down, saying they were facing hard times.
The winners of the events were:
Nivashini Sivaraman, 17. Gold in Kata Female Junior;
*Thavanishwary Muniandy, 18. Silver in Kata Female Junior, bronze in Kumite Female Junior;
*Praveen Elancheran Dharmalingam. Silver in Kumite Junior Male, and Male 70kg and above;
*Shachiidanantha Guberan Pathmanathan, Mugeshvaran V. Ganesh, Praveen Elancheran Dharmalingam, *Prakash Muhammad Arjuna. Bronze in Rotational Team Kumite Male Open; and
*Paveedra Devi V Ganesh, Nivashini Sivaraman, Thavanishwary Muniandy. Silver in Rotational Team Kumite Female Open.