KARATE INSTILLS DISCIPLINE IN YOUNG KARATE EXPONENT THEVENDRAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Martial arts is all about discipline and that is what young karate exponent K. Thevendran loves most about the sport.

The 21-year-old who hails from Pudu, was first enrolled in a karate class at the age of four by his parents to instill discipline in him as he was a ‘naughty kid’ at home.

Years later, Thevendran has grown into a disciplined individual with good time management to lead his  path into the national team to bag several medals in regional events, besides having reached the Junior World Championship quarter-finals.

“At first, I was not very interested because I was too young, but I started to love karate after that. Karate taught me discipline, especially arriving 15 minutes early for every training session or even to other events, and controlling myself when it comes to food intake during weight loss for competitions.

“My immediate goal is to win a gold medal in my SEA Games debut in Thailand at the end of this year and progress from there. I dream of competing in the Olympics one day if the sport makes a return to the biggest multi-sport games in the world,” he told Bernama recently.

Thevendran, who is in his final year of a Sports Science Diploma at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM), said his journey to the national team was largely inspired by his club and national team seniors, H. Sureeya Shankar and S. Geerijaieswaran.

“They inspired me to pursue karate as a career...I wanted to follow in their footsteps and make it to the national team. I dream of achieving big in karate,” said the three-time Southeast Asian Karate Federation (SEAKF) Championships gold medalist (under-21).

When asked about facing more experienced and older opponents, Thevendran said he was used to sparring and competing against older exponents, having taken up karate at a very young age.

As such, he said fighting against more experienced opponents doesn’t intimidate him.

“I don’t feel pressured competing against more experienced exponents. My only pressure is how to fight. Usually, the coaches will provide a game plan for each team or opponent, and we execute the plan. During training sessions and competitions, the coaches will always motivate us to keep improving and get better, that will help me to reduce the pressure,” he said.

-- BERNAMA