Karate set to pack a punch for Malaysia’s golden hopes

PETALING JAYA: Karate could turn out to be a gold mine for Malaysia when they host the SEA Games next year with a total of 18 categories contested.

It is the most number of gold medals at stake the sport has ever seen at the SEA Games stage.

Altogether, there will be 13 events for kumite and five for kata, including the mixed team kata event making its debut at the biennial meet.

South-east Asia Karate Federation (SEAKF) president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad in a statement said that all Asean member nations have agreed to the proposed categories, which were presented during the SEAKF executive committee meeting on Wednesday.

“We have discussed the full range of categories for the upcoming SEA Games and all Asean representatives have agreed to the proposals, including the new mixed team kata event.

“This new event has received world body approval but has yet to be implemented in actual competition this year.

“The introduction of this new event aligns with the global development of karate,” said Azmi.

“This is an opportunity for us to be transparent with all nations. We do not wish to conceal anything simply to provide an advantage to the Malaysian team.

“All the countries are aware of the discussions and have agreed to the 18 planned categories,” he said.

Malaysia ruled as overall champions for karate when the country hosted the SEA Games previously in 2017 (7-2-4) and 2001 (9-3-6).