Kicking into gear

Action begins: K. Thevendran (right) will enter the Asian Games with an open mind and focus on clearing each round.

SEA Games gold medallists K. Thevendran and Mandy Cebelle Chen have a chance to steal the early thunder for Malaysia if they can get their acts right in their Asian Games debuts.

Karate and wushu competitions get the medal chase going for Malaysia today in Aichi and Nagoya respectively.

Thevendran, who made his SEA Games debut in style by winning the men’s kumite below 55kg category at the Thailand SEA Games last year, will fight in the same weight class in Aichi.

Also swinging into action today is three-time SEA Games gold medallist H. Sureeya Sankar. Sureeya, making his second Asiad appearance, is fighting in the men’s kumite below 60kg category.

For Thevendran, the chance to make an early impression is not lost on the 22-year-old. The men’s below 55kg category had been included again in the Asian Games karate programme after it was excluded from the last two editions (Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2023).

“I may be competing in my first Asian Games but I have nothing to lose. I will just go in with an open mind and focus on clearing each round.

“I’ve the experience competing in the Asian Championships and I came close to winning, so the chance to be on the podium is there,” said the Kuala Lumpur-born exponent, who made his Asian Championships debut in Uzbekistan last year by winning bronze in the same weight category.

His strongest rival will be Kazakhstan exponent Zholaman Bigabyl, who has won the Asian Championships title twice.

And over in Nagoya, wushu exponents Mandy and Mohd Danish Aizad Mohd Firdaus Chua will hope to put up solid performances in their respective routines today.

Danish will compete in men’s changquan while Mandy gets the action going for Malaysia in the women’s taijiquan and taijijian all-round event.

Danish has won a silver medal before in men’s changquan at the 2024 Asian Championships in Macau while Mandy also has visited the podium on the world stage before.

The Selangor-born Mandy, 23, took silver in the World Taiqiquan Championships in Singapore two years ago.