FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Lucas Tan Yin Yao has done Malaysia proud by winning gold at the Asian Karate Youth Championships held from Aug 12-16 in Hangzhou in China.
In the true spirit of Merdeka, the relatively unknown Form Two student of SMK Taman Connaught, Cheras has dedicated his medal to the people of Malaysia celebrating Merdeka this week.
Fresh from his victory in China, the rather shy and quiet Tan now harbours ambitions to be a national champion by winning gold medals for Malaysia at the SEA games as well as future Olympic games.
Tan said he remains determined and disciplined to pursue his dream of representing Malaysia.
“One day, I hope to make Malaysia proud again on a bigger stage,” Tan, who was born and raised in KL, told Bernama in a recent interview.
However, Tan who has a black belt in karate, is keenly aware that achieving these goals won’t be easy as it would take a huge amount of discipline and sacrifice to achieve what are surely lofty ambitions.
“It would require me to balance my schoolwork and four hours of martial arts training daily which is not easy. I would have to watch what I eat on a daily basis so as not to put on weight especially before tournaments as being above a certain weight category can rule me out from fighting in the competition.
Organised by the Asian Karate Federation and Chinese Karate Association, the championship and training camp was participated by hundreds of young athletes from 12 Asian and Oceania countries.
While there, young athletes also receive training from prominent karate champions such as China’s Li Gong, Al-Jafari and Japan’s Ayumi Uekusa.