PETALING JAYA: There was no fairy-tale ending for Malaysia's karate queen C. Shahmalarani.
The 26-year-old's hopes of striking gold in her first World Championships final appearance did not materialise as she was overpowered 1-6 by Gulshan Alimardanova of Uzbekistan in the women's kumite below 50kg category in Cairo, Egypt.
Shahmalarani started with the intention to avenge her final defeat in the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan in May but it was the Uzbek rival who dealt the killer blows at the right moment.
Alimardanova managed to land three blows and one controlled kick to sail to the decisive win.
With a minute remaining on the clock, Shahmalarani managed to score one point and even landed an ippon kick but to her dismay, the referee did not award the three points.
It is still an impressive achievement for Shahmalarani as she is only the second Malaysian finalist in World Championships history.
On Saturday, Shahmalarani had stormed into the final after an impressive take-down of world No. 5 Sara Bahmanyar of Iran in the semi-finals.
Shahmalarani, ranked 11th in the world, overcame the newly crowned World Games gold medallist Bahmanyar 4-1 to guarantee a medal for Malaysia.
Shahmalarani is the first Malaysian kumite finalist since Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan made it to the women's kumite below 61kg final at the World Championships in Bremen, Germany, in 2014.
Syakilla also lost to Egyptian Giana Farouk in the final.
Her breakthrough run in the world meet will put her in good stead as she gets ready to defend her SEA Games title in Thailand in 10 days' time.
"Malaysia’s second ever World Championship finalist — ending an 11-year wait!. What an incredible journey, beating the current World Games and Islamic Solidarity Games champion in the semi-finals," she posted earlier on her social media account.
Shahmalarani had earlier sent Lili Alvarado of Ecuador packing 5-3 in the quarter-finals.
