Seasoned fighter punches her way to karate hattrick

Memorable moment: Teammates celebrating C. Shahmalarani’s birthday after she defeated Myanmar’s Florence Nay Chi Htun yesterday. — Bernama

BANGKOK: It doesn’t get any better for an athlete than to be serenaded by the crowd with a birthday song. C. Shahmalarani enjoyed that experience.

The crowd, including her teammates, burst into song as the karate queen punched her way to a historic hattrick of SEA Games titles in the women’s kumite below 50kg category at the Chaeng Wattana Government Complex.