Latest news with #karate
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Karateka Grace Lau ‘cool' about carrying Hong Kong's gold medal hopes at World Games
World No 1 Grace Lau Mo-sheung said she had this year mastered how to perform at her level amid all the accolades, and that her status as a world-leading athlete was no longer putting her under pressure during competition. Advertisement Speaking on Monday ahead of the second World Games of her career next month, the karateka also said the multi-sport event was a competition she cared about. 'I was learning how to deal with my No 1 title last year as I truly felt the pressure,' she said. 'I am all good this year, and after what I have learned, I won't repeat the mistakes of the past and let them drag me down. 'I have felt fine this year, and I knew that I was not bothered any more given my performance in the Premier League and the Asian Championships.' With three Premier League victories in four outings and a regional title – her third straight – since the start of the year, Hongkonger Lau said she was 'cool' about being the city's gold medal hope in Chengdu. The Hong Kong delegation received its World Games send-off on Monday. Photo: Handout 'It's not about any extra pressure or motivation now, I just need to perform at my standard [and the results will take care of themselves],' said the Olympic medallist, who won a bronze in Tokyo in 2021.
Malay Mail
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Malay Mail
Karate gold medallist Muhammad Arif eyes 2026 Asian Games comeback after ACL surgery
GEORGE TOWN, July 5— National karate exponent Muhammad Arif Afifuddin Ab Malik is determined to make a comeback from a recent surgery for his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, to defend his gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026. The gold medallist in the men's 84 kilogramme kumite (sparring) event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games is currently undergoing rehabilitation and is confident that he can make a stronger recovery in the next six months before his knee is fully healed in 10 months, according to the head coach. 'I suffered an ACL injury at the K1 Series A Championship in Salzburg, Austria after being taken down in the first round earlier this year and I have just undergone surgery for it. 'I am now focusing on physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Hopefully, I will come back stronger by next year,' he told Bernama at the Penang State Sports Awards 2023/2024 ceremony at the Amari Food Gallery near here today. At the ceremony, the 26-year-old athlete was crowned Penang 2023/2024 Sportsman of the Year and received a trophy and cash prize of RM4,000 presented by state executive councillor for Youth, Sports and Health, Daniel Gooi Zi Sen. Commenting on the recognition, Muhammad Arif described the award as a morale booster to continue striving for greater and more prestigious success on the international stage. 'I never thought I would be selected as the Sportsman of the Year because I was nominated before but didn't win. This year, I got it. I am grateful and very happy,' he said. The 1.83-metre tall exponent also expressed his intention to continue his Masters studies in business or sports science in the near future. For the record, Muhammad Arif created history when he won the Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal after defeating 2021 World Championship bronze medallist Daniyar Yuldashev from Kazakhstan 10-4 in the final. Gold medal winner in chess at the 21st Malaysia Games (SUKMA Sarawak), Chua Jia Tien, was crowned Penang Sportswoman of the Year 2023/2024 and her father collected the award on her behalf. Meanwhile, Gooi said the presentation of incentives this year involved 12 categories of major state sports awards including a new category introduced for the first time, which is the Deaf Sports Excellence Award. He said the new award is dedicated to the deaf sports community in Penang and reflects the state's commitment to recognising the achievement of athletes from all walks of life despite physical disability, to instil an inclusive spirit in the development of state sports. 'This incentive is a sign of the state's appreciation for the hard work and commitment of the athletes, promoters and all state sports personnel in raising the prestige of Penang sports,' he said. He also congratulated the state contingent whose medal tally of 41 gold, 45 silver and 53 bronze medals secured fourth place overall at the 21st SUKMA in Sarawak last year, which showed a 39 per cent progress compared to the 20th SUKMA where Penang had to settle for seventh place. The gold medal winner for the chess event at the 10th Asia Pacific Deaf Games Championship (APDG) last year, Loo Pin Xie, 20, received the Deaf Sports Excellence Award. — Bernama
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Monday's Child: Rowan, 13, is a funny, playful and high-spirited young boy who keeps everyone around him smiling
Rowan, 13, is a funny, playful and high-spirited young boy who keeps everyone around him smiling. Always on the move, Rowan enjoys staying active with sports like football, karate and even waterskiing — a passion he's proud of from his time in a water skiing club. He's especially proud to have earned his boating license at a young age. In addition to his athletic interests, Rowan has a creative side. He loves writing fictional stories and sharing them with others, using his vivid imagination to bring characters to life. He's always dreaming big — right now, he's determined to master a backflip to add to his growing karate skills. Rowan is also a big country music fan and enjoys jamming out to his favorite tunes. His mix of energy, humor and creativity makes him a truly unique and unforgettable kid. If you're at least 18 years old, have a stable source of income and room in your heart, you may be a perfect match to adopt a waiting child. Adoptive parents can be single, married or partnered; experienced or not; renters or homeowners; LGBTQ+ singles and couples. As an adoptive parent, you won't have to pay any fees; adoption from foster care is completely free in Massachusetts. The process to adopt a child from foster care includes training, interviews and home visits to determine if adoption is right for you. These steps will help match you with a child or sibling group that your family will fit well with. To learn more about adoption from foster care, call the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) at (617) 964-6273 or go to This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Monday's Child: Rowan, 13, is funny, playful and high-spirited
The Herald
22-06-2025
- Sport
- The Herald
Weideman keen to extend golden run at USSA karate champs
Gqeberha karateka Luchay Weideman hopes to kick on from where she left off 12 months ago when she puts her body on the line at the 2025 University Sports SA tournament. The Nelson Mandela University student claimed four of her team's 18 gold medals at the 2024 edition and is confident she can deliver a similarly impressive performance. 'My goal is to maintain that standard, both personally and for the team,' the 22-year-old said. 'Achieving that level of success does bring added pressure, but I see it as a privilege to be in that position.' The human movement science student is well aware that each year brings new opposition and with it new challenges. 'It motivates me to work harder and find new ways to elevate my performance,' Weideman, who is studying towards her master's, said. She tracks her physical progress while constantly refining her technique to ensure she is at her peak when it counts. However, mental fitness was equally important, she said. 'You have to stay composed.' Believing in your ability and not cracking under pressure or when intimidated were crucial traits if you wanted to reach your goals, she said. The Madibaz champion has already made her mark in 2025 by winning silver in the kata (a choreographed pattern of movements) and a team gold in kumite (sparring) at the Afro-Asia World Open in Nelson Mandela Bay in April. She competed as a team member of the Hillside dojo, which received a special invitation to the event which doubled as the SA championships. Now she is keen to replicate that form against the country's top student-athletes at the Durban University of Technology on June 28 and 29. Madibaz won 28 medals en route to claiming gold in the full-contact and bronze in the semi-contact disciplines in 2024. Those and other recent successes have sparked a surge of interest in the sport locally, which means there will be several new faces in the squad for KwaZulu-Natal. 'It will be exciting to see how they perform and contribute to the growth of karate,' Weideman, who believes the rise in numbers has opened many doors for the club, said. She said 2024's gold rush had given the Madibaz momentum going into 2025 and credibility as serious contenders in university karate. Her older sister Adré, who mentors the semi-contact team, is confident they, as well as the full-contact team coached by Sango Mbinyashe, are in with a shout. 'I definitely believe both teams are in a great position to achieve top results.' — Full Stop Communications
The Guardian
07-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
Male friendship isn't easy. Just ask Trump and Musk
I have a hard time maintaining male friendships these days. The older I get, the less time I have for the sorts of activities stereotypical American males enjoy: sporting events, competitive binge drinking and collecting rare coins in a dark basement. OK, maybe that last thing isn't nearly as common anymore, but what is common (if you believe various trend pieces in newspapers and magazines) is the increasing rarity of long-lasting male friendships. Most of my guy friends keep in touch with me through group chats or the occasional solo check-in text. I have, by my count, at least 10 group chats with different circles of friends. All of them are organized around a unifying theme – Star Trek, movie industry gossip, the Los Angeles Dodgers, hating that one guy who wore flip-flops to my wedding. My whole social life revolves around screens now. I watch a show or a baseball game and then immediately retreat into my other, smaller screen to discuss what I just witnessed with people I almost never see in real life. I will give myself credit for at least trying to be social in between working and taking my son to karate lessons, but it is, in fact, the bare minimum effort that I'm exerting. It's almost like a welfare check, these text messages: 'He responded, therefore he is not dead or in a Salvadorian supermax prison awaiting a trial that will never happen.' Maybe this is a superior way of maintaining relationships, though. By only seeing my friends on very rare occasions, I can't get sick of their personality quirks, their peculiar habits or their need to wear flip-flops to black-tie events. Seriously, no one wants to see your toes at a wedding, man. Cut it out. Friendship might be a social concoction that is best served sparingly. A healthy distance from someone you like makes it more unlikely you'll start absolutely hating the sheer sight of them. Sometimes, a good friend can smother you, stifle your own identity or lack boundaries. I don't need to know every little thing about a date you've been on or your trip to the podiatrist. Give me the highlights and move on. We might be seeing some of this in the rapid dissolution of the friendship (if one could call giving someone a ton of money in exchange for a job blowing up the government a 'friendship') of Elon Musk and Donald Trump. It might have been too much of a good thing for those two old scamps. It was only a couple months ago that Trump and Elon were fawning over a Tesla on the White House lawn like two car salesmen during a particularly riveting Toyotathon. Both of them looked so happy then – beaming with pride as they extolled the virtues of owning an electric car. As we know, Trump is an expert salesman, so he was clearly having a great time. And Musk is very proficient at standing, as he has demonstrated time and time again. It all seemed so perfect, but as is the case with any relationship, the reality is often a lot more complicated. Perhaps this is just another case of 'boys will be boys', but in this case, the boys in question are accusing each other of deranged behavior. Trump and Musk seemed outwardly to be as close as two incredibly rich, famously grumpy people can be. Musk campaigned for Trump in 2024, donated millions of his personal dollars to the Maga cause and took a position in the Trump administration during the first few months of the GOP victory lap. The arrangement allowed them to indulge in some of their favorite hobbies: flying in expensive planes, posting invectives on social media and firing people. It all looked quite cozy. The Dear John letter in this breakup came in the form of a series of increasingly unhinged posts from both men. Trump says Musk went 'crazy' over the removal of electric vehicle subsidies in his budget bill. Musk tweeted the Epstein thing, claimed Trump would cause a recession later this year and accused him of lying about how the whole breakup went down. Trump threatened to kill Musk's government contracts. Steve Bannon, a Trump adviser that the president still seems to like, for some reason, suggested Musk should be investigated and possibly deported. A couples counselor would say these guys need to do less talking and a whole lot more listening. Some friendships aren't meant to last. In this case, it's pretty clear there was a bit of a 'marriage of convenience' flavor to it all. Trump needed money. Musk … also needed money. An ideal partnership. The only thing that could get in the way of that is, of course, also money. The death of the EV subsidies is existentially terrifying for a man whose fortune rests in the stock value of his automobile company. Trump, ever eager to look fiscally responsible, went after a budget item that most of his supporters either don't care about or actively hate. This really isn't that different from when a friend promises to Venmo me for their share of a dinner tab and takes a week to do it (and has to be reminded multiple times, naturally via text). In the case of Trump and Musk, the Venmo tab is in the millions. I still think the Musk-Trump alliance could be salvaged, though the deportation threats and the pedophile island accusation probably aren't helping. Unlike most of my friendships, Trump and Musk's partnership is highly transactional. They have and will likely continue to need each other in some way. I need you to pay me back for dinner, but I don't need it. Some of my male friendships fall away just out of mutual lack of interest. We both made a choice, consciously or unconsciously, to give up on a relationship. Trump and Musk will always need each other in one form or another. Their shared grift of the American government is simply more powerful and effective when the two of them are working together as the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of corruption. They might just need a little break from each other. When they're ready, maybe they could take it slow and try a group chat. Well. Maybe not. Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
