1999 SEA Games Karate News
KARATE exponent Manan Mahmod won his first--and last--gold medal in Bandar Seri Begawan.
The 35-year-old policeman delivered a surprise gold medal in the over 80kg competition yesterday and then declared that he was retiring.
It was an extremely sweet exit from the sport for Manan.
He fought against Umar Sharif in the final and exacted revenge on the Indonesian, who had beaten him twice--at the last Games and a meet in Macau.
"This gold is a very good present for me and my family," said Manan, who made his Games debut in Jakarta two years ago.
"It has been a strain on them but they have stood by me through the years.
"Age is also not on my side and I will retire from the international scene and spend more time with my family.
"I will only take part in local meets and concentrate on being an instructor for the Police team."
In yesterday's competition, there were only three entries for the over 80kg category and the lanky Manan defeated Brunei's Mohamed Aidil Tahir to get into the final.
Against Umar, Manan scored an upset 6-5 win to claim the gold.
"I was confident today. I think I did enough to win the gold medal.
"The referees have been fair in all the fights thus far," said Manan.
Manan is a late starter in the sport--fighting competitively only five years ago.
"I had to fight younger and fitter opponents. But I kept at it and it has paid off," he said.
THE Malaysian men flexed their muscles in the karate competition yesterday--sweeping three of the five gold medals at stake in the individual kumite.
At the Royal Brunei Airlines Multi-Purpose Hall in Berakas, the Ponniah brothers, Arivalagan and Thiagu, struck gold in the 75kg and 80kg categories respectively. And Manan Mahmod emerged as the surprise winner in the over 80kg competition.
With the three gold medals yesterday, the karate team have met the four-medal target. The women's kumite team were the winners on Sunday.
Indonesia, who won five of the six gold medals at stake on the opening day's competition, took a back seat yesterday and only featured in two finals.
For Arivalagan, who won his sixth SEA Games gold medal, victory did not come easy this time. He had to fight with a bruised chest, which he suffered in the team competition on Sunday.
But he kept his unbeaten record in the Games intact, downing Thailand's Kritsnapong Ditudom and Brunei's Tong Kit Siong to get into the final.
In the fight for gold, he defeated Syamsudin Shamsudin of Indonesia 6-2.
"It was the first time I fought against Syamsudin. He was very aggressive and it was a tough fight," said Arivalagan.
"I'm happy I made it. It is my sixth gold medal and I will treasure it. Retirement? Let us wait and see."
Younger brother Thiagu made amends for his defeat in the team competition, which cost Malaysia the gold medal in the final against Indonesia.
"It was a gold medal I needed to win. I was confident that I could do it but still I was cautious," said the 24-year-old Thiagu, who defeated Thailand's Surat Khajaisornsit 6-2 in the final.
Thiagu had a gold medal to show from the team competition in Singapore '93 but at the last Games in Jakarta, he won two silvers.
His father and coach, K. Ponniah, said he was happy for the team for having met the target set by the Olympic Council of Malaysia.
"They have showed good teamwork all the way. We can look forward to more gold medals," he promised.
Malaysia also won a bronze medal in the women's 60kg competition through Kew Yen Hoon.
Today, four more gold medals will be at stake in karate.
THE Malaysian karate team continued their gold-medal winning ways with another two in the men's kumite events at the Royal Brunei Airways Multi-purpose Hall yesterday.
The Malaysians are now just a gold away from equalling their best ever performance in the SEA Games series--the seven-gold haul in KL 1989.
Yesterday, Asian Games champions R. Muniandy and veteran Kong Tai Moon brought home the expected medals in the below 70kg and below 65kg categories respectively.
But there was disappointment in the afternoon bouts as another Asian champion, C. Muralitharan, could only manage a bronze medal. He made it to the semi-finals but took it too easy against Brunei's Mohamed Fadillah.
However, there was no denying the other two exponents their gold medal.
Muniandy had an easy first round win over Aung Bo Bo and then defeated Sonny Simangaing in the semi-final to meet Brunei's Yahya Narawi in the final.
Yahya shocked Muniandy with the first point but after that the Malaysians scored five points to take the gold medal.
Tai Moon also had an easy time in the final--beating Filipino Jose Enrique 6-0.
National coach T. Ponniah said the two gold medals were a bonus as they had already surpassed their four-gold target.
"But we are not stopping there. We have four more finals tomorrow (today) and we will go all out to capture it.
"The team is in high spirit and we want to make this our best showing in the series," he added.
For Tai Moon, the individual gold medal was a long time coming. He first won gold in the 1989 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
"I wanted a gold badly in the individual event. I have got it," he said.
HE'S won it at the SEA Games, he's won it at the Asian level and now, R. Muniandy wants to be the first Malaysian karate exponent to win at the World Championships.
That is tha target that Muniandy set himself after winning the SEA Games gold yesterday.
Muniandy said that he had always had beginners' luck in international meets.
And next year, he will take part in his first world championships in Germany.
"So, I hope to be able to ride on my luck. No Malaysian has won any medal at the world meet. I want to be the first. I think that it can be achieved.
"When I made my debut in the SEA Games it ended in a silver medal. I went up against my master P. Arivalagan in Jakarta.
"Then, in the Asian Games last year I won the gold medal. Now I have achieved the SEA Games gold medal as well. And I want to make the world championship dream happen," he said.
Muniandy, 23, is training full-time and still has his eyes on the 2001 SEA Games in KL.
"In 2001, I want to ensure that we win the team kumite gold medal besides taking an individual medal.
"This time we had a strong team for the team event but lost to Indonesia by two points. We will be ready in 2001 to do well in front of our home crowd," he said.
Muniandy added that there was pressure on him to deliver an individual gold medal here as he is the Asian Games champion.
"But I was confident of winning. The pressure was there but once I started fighting there was no looking back. This gold medal is for my first coach Master Selvaraj," he said.
AFTER failing in two SEA Games, karate exponent R. Puvanesweran finally struck it right in his third attempt for gold yesterday. But it did not come easy.
Puvanesweran defeated Filipino Walter Corzum 5-4 to take the 55kg kumite gold medal on the final day of the karate competition at the Royal Brunei Airlines Multi-Purpose Hall yesterday.
Puvanesweran, who only managed to win bronze medals in his two previous Games outings in Singapore '93 and Jakarta '97, started well but lost a point when he was penalised for a foul when the score stood at 4-2.
Then as the minutes ticked away, Corzum landed a body blow to lead 4-3.
The gold was slipping away but Puvanesweran managed to stay composed and in an aggressive approach scored two points to take the gold.
"I have waited for this gold medal for six years," sighed the 25-year-old Puvanesweran. "I won gold in the Asian Championships in 1994 but had only a bronze medal to show from the SEA Games. I will be aiming higher after this."
Malaysia had a total haul of seven gold medals to match the efforts made by the 1989 team, which was the best-ever in the SEA Games series.
In the Open competition, P. Arivalagan failed to win a medal. He was beaten 4-5 in the second round by Indonesian Yoku Tedious. Then in the bout for the bronze, he lost 3-4 to Brunei's Mohamed Hapidz.
Malaysia's representative in the women's Open, S. Premilla, was beaten by Mary Theressa Nable of the Philippines in the semi-finals. Premilla won the bronze by beating Thailand's Panadda Tamchuchaichana.
Ng Chai Lin, who won a gold medal in the team event, found the going tough to win a medal in the women's 48kg category.
She lost to eventual winner Pham Hong Ha of Vietnam in the first round. In the fight for the bronze, Chai Lin went down 2-3 to Indonesian Lia Nurlianty.
Malaysian coach T. Ponniah hoped the good performance of his exponents here would spur the exponents to work even harder and achieve greater heights.
"We have proved that our karate exponents are capable of winning medals at international level. We must think of higher mountains to climb," said Ponniah.
"There are young exponents in the team and they have a bright future in the sport."
WHEN he took up the sport more than 30 years ago, T. Ponniah practised his kicks and chops on tree trunks in the Malaysian plantations where he grew up.
Today Malaysia's chief karate coach gets a kick seeing his sons and daughter-in-law emerge South-East Asian champions.
Ponniah, 53, was grinning from ear to ear when his sons, 29-year-old P. Arivalagan and P. Thiagu Ponniah, 25, grabbed golds in the individual kumite 75kg and 80kg events respectively in the SEA Games here.
It was Arivalagan's sixth consecutive gold medal in the Games.
Ponniah's 22-year-old daughter-in-law, Sri Raja Rajeswary, won the Games title for Malaysia in the team kumite.
"We are one generation of fighters," said Ponniah, whose father used to shine in the Indian art of self defence called silambam.
"The only difference is that my father trained underground because the sport was banned during the British colonial days when secret societies and gangs flourished. But I am more fortunate.
"Even though I used to train among the trees in the rubber plantations where my father worked in, I was more fortunate because I could train openly," said Ponniah, who has been Malaysian coach since 1986.
His interest in karate grew from watching many Tamil movies involving the once-popular Indian actor M.G. Ramachandran who fought crime on screen with his hands.
Ponniah, who reigned supreme in karate in the region in the late 1960s, won gold medals in the SEA Games predecessor, the South-East Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games.
Arivalagan, who runs a karate school for 300 exponents in Kuala Lumpur, announced his retirement from competitive fighting after winning his sixth gold medal on Monday.
"I'm getting tired so I thought I will take a back seat and nurture my students to make it big," he said.
Two of his students have already won medals here. - AFP