Gold of the highest karat

Three’s a company: Emmanuel Leong (left), Thomson Hoe (top) and Ivan Oh showing off their kata gold medal yesterday. — Bernama

THE Indonesian trio stepped up and put on a class show, exciting the judges in the team kata final. Then came the Malaysian trio of Emmanuel Leong, Thomson Hoe and Ivan Oh Theng Wei. When they were done, the Indonesians were well-forgotten and even the fervent Indonesian crowd were clapping at their performance.

There was no doubt in anybody’s mind as the Malaysian trio were awarded the gold, Malaysia’s fourth in karate.

Facing their traditional rivals at the World Trade Centre in the final event of the tournament, the Malaysian trio went onto the carpet with much vigour. The Indonesians had performed well, buoyed by the boisterous Indonesian crowd but when Emmanuel, 27, Thomson, 26 and Ivan, 22 took the floor, everyone in the arena was cheering their every move and stunt.

It was poetry in motion, and even the Indonesian crowd knew that.

They deservedly got 25.4 points to Indonesia’s 23.98. The Philippines won the bronze medal by beating Myanmar in the bronze medal match.

Their victory made Malaysia the overall karate champions with four golds.

In the last edition, Malaysia were also overall champions with seven golds. They also bagged the overall title gong in the Naypyidaw Games in 2013 with seven golds.

Bang on target: R. Sharmendran in action against Vietnam’s Chu Duc Thinh in the quarter-finals. Sharmendran went on to defeat Thailand’s Songbut Muntaen in the final.

Emmanuel dedicated the victory to the Malaysian karate team and also those behind the scenes in the last two years.

“Indonesia are our traditional rivals. So, I told my teammates to stay calm and work as a team. I also told them not to forgot the hours we spent in the last two years just to get our routine right, ” he said.

“In the ring, it was just the three of us. No else, no judges or competitors. When you are in it, only perform.

“For two years, we trained in Penang just for these five minutes. Thank God we got the gold.”

Emmanuel said he had to sacrifice lots of family time to perfect the art of kata. He even apologised to his family who had to put up with his sacrifices.

“This win is memorable because we showed that we can perform out of Malaysia, ” added Emmanuel who attributed the success to their coach Ku Jin Keat, a kata expert and an Asian Games gold medallist.

“He has been a great influence. You all know he has done well for the country in this event. So his contribution has been immense.”

Meanwhile, Malaysia Karate Federation (Makaf) secretary-general Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad said it was time for the government to give extra funding to the karate team as they had exceeded expectations in Manila.”