Holding his own in the ring

Beating the odds: Yilamaran defeated Brazilian Sergio Garcia in the first round, followed by Israel’s Avi Bokler (quarter-finals) and Iran’s Abdolghafour Ebhahim (semi-finals) to take silver in the Deaflympic Games in Caxias do Sul, Brazil. — Photo courtesy of MSDeaf Facebook

JOHOR BARU: “All I wanted was for my son who was born with a hearing disability to learn some martial arts to defend himself from being bullied,” said R. Shanti.

But what this mother never expected was to see V. Yilamaran, 22, eventually grow up to become a national karate exponent, winning medals internationally including bagging a silver medal at the 24th Deaflympic Games in Caxias do Sul in Brazil on Tuesday.