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Taekwondo: Injury crisis hits squad

Wong Kai Meng (right) and Muhd Azuan Zainuddin in action in the final of the National Taekwondo Championships in TAR College yesterday. — Picture by Chan Wai Yew
Wong Kai Meng (right) and Muhd Azuan Zainuddin in action in the final of the National Taekwondo Championships in TAR College yesterday. — Picture by Chan Wai Yew
 
MALAYSIA'S chances of qualifying for the London Olympics taekwondo tournament look doubtful as three exponents, who were to compete in the Asian qualifiers in Bangkok on Nov 4-6, are injured but national coach R. Dhanaraj remains optimistic.

The experienced Elaine Teoh, who will battle in the combined women's finweight and flyweight categories, is carrying a knee injury while Nurul Nadia Mahamat (bantamweight/featherweight) is also down with the same injury.

Ryan Chong (men's finweight/flyweight) has a broken wrist while Afifuddin Omar Sidek (bantamweight-featherweight) is the only one who is injury-free.

Dhanaraj's consolation is that Ryan will be able to return to training next month while Elaine and Nurul Nadia will resume training at the end of August.
"The Olympic qualifiers in Bangkok is the priority but it has been affected by the injuries to our key exponents. The good thing is we have three months to prepare before the event," said Dhanaraj in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

"Elaine has the experience while Ryan has been performing well this year until the injury. They remain our best bets to qualify, so I am hopeful they will be able to compete in Bangkok.

"Nurul Nadia and Afifuddin are good fighters but they are in categories where they will have to do battle against bigger and stronger exponents."

The coach added: "We will also be looking at back-up for them where quality and age will be the main considerations."

Elaine, at 29, is the oldest of the four while Afifuddin is 25, Nurul Nadia 24 and Ryan the youngest at 22.

Dhanaraj was on the lookout for fresh talent at the National Championships in TAR College yesterday where James Tee of Dynamic, who won the finweight title beating A. Kesavan of Selangor, is likely to be the back-up for Ryan while the others failed to impress.

"We may have a replacement for Ryan if he doesn't make it but we don't have the quality to replace Elaine or Nurul Nadia. We don't want to send someone else just to make up the numbers," said Dhanaraj.

Afifuddin, representing Armed Forces, also got a boost ahead of his preparations for the Olympic qualifiers when he won the bantamweight title beating Puvandrah of Terengganu while Wong Kai Meng, also from Armed Forces, secured the heavyweight gold, beating Azuan Zainuddin of Perak.

Armed Forces clinched the overall crown with seven gold, three silver and two bronze with Sabah (2-0-4) taking second spot. Sarawak, Koryo, Terengganu, Saga, Kuala Lumpur, Dynamic and Speed Power each won one gold.

Read more: NST

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