Abdul Malik Gave His Best But It Wasn't Good Enough
By Jason Thomas

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's Abdul Malik Mohd Zaini put up a valiant fight in yesterday's (Tuesday) Men's individual Kata (demonstration) quarter-finals against Pakistan's Ali Ghulam, but his best was simply not enough to progress to the next round in the 15th Asian Games in Doha.

In a thrilling match contested at the Qatar Sports Club Indoor Hall yesterday at 2pm (Brunei time), Abdul Malik, the first of the four Bruneian karate exponents competing in Doha, lost 3-2 and is now knocked out of the competition.

However, team manager Sayed Jefferydean Said Mohammad felt that Abdul Malik should have won the match.

"He had the upper hand throughout the match, and everyone I talked to said that Brunei should have won it," said Sayed unhappily.

"Both Abdul Malik and his opponent fought very well and landed good hits on each other, but I don't know why we lost."

Sayed - a qualified Australian Karate Federation (AKF) referee and Brunei's referee representative in Doha commented that the refereeing might have been a little poor. But he didn't mention anything about submitting an official complaint. The referees in Doha judge the matches and award points based on three important criteria - speed, power and knowledge.

"Abdul Malik put up a great show and performed to a hundred per cent of his ability," said Sayed. "But I guess we just didn't have luck on our side." Sayed added that Abdul Malik was obviously disappointed with the result because he was confident of winning the match.

According to Sayed, Abdul Malik saw Ali Ghulam practise the day before, and thought that he could defeat him in yesterday's (Tuesday) match.

Even though Abdul Malik competed in a quarter-finals match, yesterday was the first day that karate was contested at the Games in Doha, which has made his loss even more disheartening as he could have reached the semi-finals, had he beaten Ghulam. Nevertheless, Sayed was full of praises for the Bruneian, and was assured the loss wouldn't keep him down for long.

"I just want to congratulate Abdul Malik for giving it his all, and I am sure he will do better in the upcoming Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, next December."

Sayed was also confident that Abdul Malik's loss wouldn't have any adverse effects on the confidence of the other Bruneians competing in the various Kata categories in Doha.

Another Bruneian karate exponent in Doha, Eddie Jofraini Johari, would surely have had revenge on his mind as he fought Pakistani Saadi Abbas in Men's individual Kata (-55 kg) quarterfinals.

The two other athletes representing Bruneian karate in Doha are Mohd Fazil Rewandie (men's -75 kg) and Mohd Sofian Abdullah (men's +80kg).

Mohd Fazil Rewandie faces UAE's Jumaa Hussen Samir tomorrow at 6.30pm (Brunei time), and Mohd Sofian Abdullah will fight against Indonesia's Omar Sharif at the same time. All of Brunei's karate exponents are competing in the Kata category.

Before they arrived in Doha last Saturday, the national karate team were in Surayaba, Indonesia, since November 14, where they underwent more than three weeks of preparations.

During those three weeks, they competed in several matches against competitors from the Indonesian Karate Federation's second team, as well as the Indonesian Marine Department.

"The training in Surabaya, even though it was tough, was beneficial," beamed Sayed, "because the athletes were able to learn many new ideas and techniques". The team arrived back from Surabaya last Wednesday, and after a day's rest on Thursday, they left for Doha via Bangkok the next day.

However, their training in Doha was limited as a result of the cold weather, to which the players are not accustomed to. The temperature there ranges from 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.

The four karate exponents at Doha are not newcomers to international competitions - they competed in the 1st Islamic Games in Saudi Arabia last year, and the 14th Asian Games in Busan, South Korea in 2002.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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