Sarawak push to become karate powerhouse

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Ong (in red shirt) with the coaches and exponents at the MSNS Gitokukai Main Dojo at Hui Sing Garden Commercial Centre.

KUCHING: Sarawak are aiming to become a karate powerhouse in Malaysia and potentially in the region with the development strategy being worked out by the Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) and the Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS).

For a start, SCC had recently recruited the services of international karate coach from Iran, Yousef Ataei Khanghah as the chief coach to spearhead the development efforts by identifying the potential exponents who will be further groomed to become leading contenders at national and world tournaments.

The 44-year-old was the former national and junior squad coach from 2005 to 2008 before he became Penang’s coach from 2008 to 2018.

Yousef holds a Master degree in Education (Physical Sport) from Malaysia Science University (USM).

According to SSC CEO Dr Ong Kong Swee, there are great potentials for local exponents to be trained at a higher level so that they can participate in high performance and competitive karate events.

“Presently, we have set up the MSNS Gitokukai Main Dojo at Hui Sing Garden Commercial Centre and the facility is serving as a good avenue for our exponents to meet regularly for training sessions which are on from 2pm to 4.30pm daily,” he said.

“Currently there are 14 exponents who were already identified by Yousef to undergo training together and this number is expected to grow with the collaboration of the Sarawak Karate Association (SKA) and its affiliated clubs,” said Ong.

He added that MSNS and SKA will scout for exponents aged between 14 and 20 where they will be trained at the Kuching’s Centre of Excellence for Karate.

“The training sessions will be conducted by Yousef and he will mainly be looking into the development of the kumite (free sparring) standard among our local exponents.

“There is also a proposal on the ‘Sarawak Karate League’ which is the first of its kind in Malaysia and the event is expected to attract entries from throughout the divisions whereby the tournament bouts may be held on home and away basis.

“This will be an exciting tournament because the exponents will have the opportunity to meet and compete in many places and thus they will gain good exposure as well as experience in competing against the best in every division,” he added.

“If the response is overwhelming, we may open the entries to other states as well so as to enable our local exponents to gain good exposure as well as to compete against the best within Malaysia,” he said on the positive impacts of the proposed karate league to be introduced soon.