RP karatekas bag honors in France

The RP-Red Horse karatedo team, deep in training for the forthcoming Manila SEA Games, bagged two silvers and one bronze in the Le Hetet Cup in Carcassonne, France recently.

Gretchen Malalad, lone Filipino karateka gold medalist in the Vietnam SEA Games, copped a silver medal in the 60 kg. women’s kumite of the French competition in honor of France’s national and world karate champion, the late Alain Le Hetet. En route to her runner-up finish, Malalad handily toppled rivals from France and Canada, before finally yielding the gold to another French entry.

SEAG medal hopeful Bernardino Chu duplicated Malalad’s silver medal in the 70-kg. men’s kumite, disposing of rivals from France and Switzerland but subsequently bowing to another French competitor. National Karate Open champion Charli Tugday rounded out the Filipinos’ podium finish in the Le Hetet Cup with a bronze in the 60kg. women’s kumite.

The RP-Red Horse team, out on a three-month foreign training and exposure sponsored by San Miguel Corporation (SMC), earlier captured five gold and two bronze medals in an Adriatic regional tournament in the Italian city of Termoli.

"With the wins that the RP-Red Horse karatekas are showing in their training abroad, we truly hope that the Philippines can improve on its medal tally from karate in the SEA Games later this year," says Alvin Patrimonio, SMC SEAG project director for the sport. In the last Vietnam SEAG, karate accounted for one gold, two silver and five bronze medals for the Philippines. The coming SEAG karatedo competitions will be held in Mandaue City.