KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — The national karate squad is heading in the right direction ahead of the Hanoi SEA Games, bagging five gold, three silver and four bronze medals at the Southeast Asian Championships that concluded today.

On the last day of the competition at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Malaysian team added a gold in the men’s team Kumite (sparring) event, defeating Vietnam 3-1 in the finals.

The team comprised R. Sharmendran; S. Prem Kumar; H. Sureeya Sankar; G. Kathish; Muhammad Arif Afifuddin; V. Kueggen; and S. Geerijaieswaran.

Malaysia’s four other gold medals were also contributed by the Kumite exponents.

Asian Games bronze medallist Prem Kumar won the men’s below 55kg title after thrashing Vietnam’s Trav Van Vu 9-1, while C. Shahmalarani emerged champion in the women’s below 50kg category, winning 5-4 against another Vietnamese, Dinh Thi Huong.

In the men’s below 60kg finals, homester Ly Kouy Hav was no match for Kueggen as the latter secured a 12-3 win, while Sureeya Sankar thrashed Dang Hong Son of Vietnam 12-4 in the men’s below 67kg event.

Meanwhile, the country’s silver medals were delivered by M. Mathivani (women’s below 61kg), A. Denishroy (men’s above 84kg) and Kathish (men’s below 84kg), while the bronze medals were won by Amirah Syahirah Azlan (women’s below 68kg) and Muhammad Arif  (men’s below 75kg).

The Kata (pattern) team returned with bronze medals from Muhamad Aiqal Asmadie (men’s individual) and  Lovelly Anne Roberth (women’s individual).

Malaysia, represented by 17 athletes, finished the campaign third overall, behind leaders Vietnam (5-5-3) and Indonesia (5-3-6), while hosts Cambodia finished fourth (1-1-5), followed by Thailand (0-3-6), Philippines (0-1-2) and Laos (0-0-2). Singapore and Brunei returned empty-handed.

At the 2019 Philippines SEA Games, Malaysia emerged overall champion after winning four gold and four silver medals from the 13 events contested. — Bernama