Malaysian silambam team are Asian champs with 12 golds

 

The victorious Malaysian silambam team which won the Asian silambam championship in Qatar yesterday. (Malaysia Silambam Association pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

A Malaysian silambam team has bagged 12 gold medals to emerge overall champions at the Asian open silambam championship in Qatar yesterday.

Malaysia Silambam Association president Dr M Suraess said six national exponents displayed splendid performances to deliver two gold each via the ‘thanithiramai’ (individual artistic staff spinning) and ‘poruthal’ (combat) categories.

The gold medallists are Prakash in the men’s open above 60kg category; Shastivena in the girls’ below 17 years (55kg-65kg) category; as well as Leenasree (30kg-40kg), Kavithira (45-55kg), Darnisha (55kg-65kg), and Ranishaa (above 70kg) in the girls’ under 15 category.

Dr Suraess said hosts Qatar and the United Arab Emirates finished second and third in the tournament. Representatives from India and Saudi Arabia also took part.

“We made history by winning the overall title,” he said in a statement today. Six members of the squad had also won medals at the Sukma games in Sarawak in August.

Silambam is a traditional Indian martial art which originated in Tamil Nadu, which was popularised in the 1960s and 1970 through films of movie star M G Ramachandran. - FMT