SKSM land nine medals in UK event

A team of eight athletes from SKSM Malta achieved success in an inter-national karate competition held recently in Sheffield, winning no fewer than nine medals.

Seventeen countries took part in the AMA International Karate Championship and the Maltese contingent was led by Chris Galea, head of SKSM Karate Malta.

Lucienne Galea, David Parsonage, Andrew Galea, Liam Tanti, Deelan Vassallo, Jake Sant, Liam Gauci and Ted Owen were the Maltese who competed in England.

For most, this was their first participation outside Malta.

Taking part in kata seniors and open kata, Lucienne Galea deli-vered the first two gold medals for SKSM after producing brilliant performances in both categories.

Her showings provided further encouragement to her team-mates.

Andrew Galea had difficult rounds to clear before reaching the decisive bouts where the medals were contested.

His efforts yielded a remarkable tally of four medals, two gold, one silver and a bronze.

Debutant Deelan Vassallo also did exceptionally well, collecting two medals, one silver and one bronze in the kumite (up to 12 years and 13 years and over).

Liam Gauci won the last medal after taking bronze in freestyle.

“The positive results obtained by the Maltese athletes represent another success for SKSM Karate Malta, one that further raises the image of Maltese sport on the international scene,” SKSM said in a statement.

Galea is currently training another group of SKSM members in preparation for an even bigger tournament in Russia, to be held in a few weeks’ time, and also for the World Seniors Championships in Scotland.

This year, SKSM will take part in seven events overseas. More information may be obtained by visiting www.sksmalta.com or by phoning 21-453706 or 7953-7924.