Shillong, Aug 16: The All Meghalaya Karate-Do Association said on Tuesday that four of its young karatekas will take part in the prestigious Thailand Open Karate-Do Championship in Phuket from August 19.
The four — Ferdinand S Rani, Gregorwilson Makdoh, Saralin Rynghang and Damanbha Pde — are some of the up and coming Meghalaya karatekas who have already won medals at state, regional and national tournaments.
They will leave for New Delhi on August 18 where they will join the rest of the Indian contingent and then depart for Thailand.
The kumite (bouts) and kata (form and movement demonstration) will then begin on August 20, with the tournament scheduled to conclude on August 23. The karatekas will then return to India the following day.
Last month, Pde had won a silver medal and Rynghang a bronze at the All India Karate Championship in Chhattisgarh. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Makdoh and Rani had won gold and bronze medals respectively at the Kanninjuku National Shoto Cup Karate Championship in Maharashtra.
“The association wants to give international exposure to our young karatekas because for two years they were not able to take part,” AMKA President Hunlang Lytan said at a recent send-off function for the four, referring to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“These youngsters have taken part in national tournaments but there is a big difference between these and international competitions,” he added while thanking the parents for supporting the youngsters on their journey.
The four karatekas will be taking part in their first international tournament and if they were nervous, they did not show it at the send-off. They all thanked AMKA, their coaches and parents for the support and hoped to do well at the event.
