Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Karate Association (SKA) contingent returned with three golds, one silver and three bronzes at the 42nd Makaf National Senior Karate Championship which concluded at the Bukit Kiara National Sport Complex on Sunday.
Two of the gold medals came from the kumite discipline through Muhd Aiman Azlan (male kumite +84kg) and Amirah Syahirah Azlan (female kumite -68kg) while Lovelly Anne Roberth delivered the other gold in the female individual kata.
The only silver medal was won by Leong Jia Chii (female kumite -68kg) while the bronze medals came from Prisca Easter Philip (female kumite -68kg), the male kumite team (Muhd Aiman, Mohd Azhad Haziq Henry, Mohd Zaidan Zainal, Eldrich Aaron A Jubili ) and the female kumite team (Amirah, Leong, Prisca, Alysheron Maunsiong).
The 11-member team managed to retain their third place in the medal standing behind overall winners Penang Karate Federation who won four golds, two silvers and four bronzes while second place went to Johor Sports Council with four golds and two bronzes.
SKA secretary general Julian Chin said he was satisfied with the achievement by the squad represented by fewer members this year as many of the athletes who
are Malaysian Games (Sukma) bound have to sit for their SPM and STPM examinations.
“It was a very good and challenging outing for our athletes taking into account the much tougher competition this year as many teams are also preparing their athletes for the Sukma in Kuching,” he said.
