Karate: National athletes must secure podium in national meet

National athletes competing in the 35th National Senior Karate Championships 2015 on Oct 31 and Nov 1 are required to secure podium finish.

Malaysian Karate Federation (Makaf) secretary-general Vincent Chen Chee Hong has warned the athletes to maintain their performance to be on par with their status as among the best in country.

"The national athletes are still fresh after the World Karate Federation (WKF) Premier League from Austria held from Oct 17-18. We have already passed the requirement and what we need from them is minimum podium finish.

"National athletes must participate unless injured or under rehab (rehabilitation)...it is part of their assessment," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Chen said about 200 athletes would participate in the national meet, less than in previous years due clash of date with public examinations, SPM and STPM.

Besides that, the national championship would also be a platform for national coach Andris Vasiljevs to identify potential talents for the national squad.

"Vasiljevs will select promising athletes from the championship and nominate them to the management. We will decide based on two criteria, which is whether they were in the national squad previously, and faced any disciplinary action," he said.

2014 Asian Games gold medalist Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan, Hoe Thomson, Emmanuel Leong, Ricky Leong and S. Shree Sharmini are among the national athletes taking part in the championship which comprises 18 categories.