KUCHING: Russia took over as the new leaders in the medal standings when their karatekas went on a gold rush on the third day of the Kobe Osaka International (KOI) World Cup at the State Indoor Stadium yesterday.
The Russians asserted their dominance in the kumite competition, taking five out of the nine gold medals at stake and nudged Malaysia into second place on merit of having two more silver medals. The Russians won the gold medals in the boys’ team kumite (age 12 to 13), mixed team kumite (12 to13), mixed team kumite (14 to 15), mixed team kumite (16 to 17) old and male cadet team kumite (14 to 15). They also won three silver medals in the mixed team kumite (14 to 15), male junior team kumite (16 to 17) and male senior team kumite (18 and above).
Malaysia also performed well yesterday, bagging four gold medals through Lim Lee Lee in female senior individual kata shitoryu, senior team kumite (18 and above), male senior team kumite (18 and above) and mixed gender team kata senior (16 and above).
Lee Lee also won another bronze in the mixed gender team kata senior (16 and above) to bring her personal tally to two gold and one bronze medals.
Mohammad Hatta Mahamut, a member of the Malaysia Team B1 that won the gold medal in the male senior team kumite 18 years, said it was great to be able to beat the Russians again in the category in Kuching this year. He was a member of the Malaysian team that denied the Russians the gold medal in the same category in last year’s KOI World Cup in Latina, Italy.
“Actually we had three Malaysian teams competing in this category today. Two had already been knocked out and that put us under tremendous pressure in the final,” he said.
Hatta, who will also be competing at the Asian Karate Federation Championship in Kwangchou, China in September, said he was confident Malaysia would finish as the overall champions in this World Cup. “This is because many top Malaysian karatekas will be competing in the senior categories today.”
Meanwhile, Malaysia Team A won the only silver medal in the female senior team kumite (18 and above) while the national karatekas also delivered five bronze medals, of which two came from the female senior individual kata shitoryu, and one each from male cadet team kumite (14/14), mixed gender team kata junior (below 16) and mixed gender team kata senior (16 and above).
Australia took the gold in the mixed team kumite (18 and above) while Zohour 2 of Egypt put up a good performance in the mixed gender team kata junior (below 16) to capture the gold.
Jordan also had a gold medal to show for, winning their male junior team kumite (16 and 17).
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