PETALING JAYA: National karate exponent C. Shahmalarani held her nerve in a nail-biting finish to deliver Malaysia’s third gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday (Sept 23).
The 27-year-old battled past Hong Kong’s Tsang Yee Ting in a tense women’s kumite below 50kg final at the Toyohashi Gymnasium to capture her maiden Asian Games gold.
Shahmalarani was awarded the win by hantei (judges decision) after the final three-minute bout ended 0-0.
Competing at her second Asiad, Shahmalarani had entered the final after taking down last year’s world champion Gulshan Alimardanova of Uzbekistan 3-2 in the semi-final.
It was Malaysia’s third gold medal in Japan after esports racer Taj Izrin Aiman Taj Madira won the Gran Turismo 7 event earlier in the day.
On Tuesday, Adeola Fay Robert had won the first gold in the women’s kumite below 55kg event.
