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.

The World Championships silver medallist exponent secured the second gold for Malaysia by defeating Myanmar’s Florence Nay Chi Htun 4-0.

She had also won in Vietnam in 2022 and Cambodia two years ago and has stayed undefeated on the SEA Games stage.

Moments after her win, teammates started singing and the crowd joined in to serenade her.

But it was not easy. Shahmalarani, who turned 27 yesterday, had to carry the high expectations on her to deliver nothing less than gold based on her reputation.

After all, she is the Asian Championships and World Championships silver medallist in her category.

“I was determined not to fail my country.

“The World Championships was my personal achievement but this (SEA Games) is about contributing to the country.

“I wanted to get my third gold medal for the Malaysian karate team and the country, so there was always pressure to deliver especially after what I achieved earlier this year. Karate always give results when it comes to SEA Games, so hopes were high but of course there was pressure knowing it is also a subjective sport.

“It is good that I met the toughest fighter in the semis earlier (against Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Thu where Shahmalarani won 2-0), so I had more confidence entering the final,” said the holder of a Masters in Actuarial Science.

Shahmalarani is not thinking about celebrating her birthday yet.

“There is no celebration plan as there is still the team kumite event to come (on Sunday).

“I have to focus with my teammates to prepare for this. We will try to win it as this reflects the strength of the team.

“I just want to thank my teammates for remembering my birthday,” she added.