Malaysian karate athlete Haznil Henry narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games after a 0-5 defeat to Hong Kong’s Howard Hung in the men’s individual kata third-place match held yesterday at the Toyohashi Gymnasium. The 21-year-old competitor, participating in his first Asian Games, had earlier been defeated 0-5 by Macau’s Fong Man Hou in the round of 16. He subsequently progressed through the repechage bracket, securing a 5-0 victory over Taiwan’s Tu Chenghan before falling to Hung.

Despite falling short in the individual category, Haznil’s campaign continues as he is set to compete with teammates Mohd Aiqal Asmadie and Mukhriz Mazlan in the men’s team kata event scheduled for tomorrow. Haznil and Aiqal will aim to leverage their previous experience, having secured a silver medal at the Thailand Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last year, to deliver a strong team performance.

The men’s individual kata gold medal was claimed by Japan’s Kakeru Nishiyama, who defeated Fong Man Hou 5-0 in the final round.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s hopes for a karate medal in the women’s kumite under 61kg category were ended when Zakiah Adnan lost 1-8 to China’s Gong Li in the quarterfinals. Zakiah, a bronze medalist at the Bangkok SEA Games, was unable to overcome Gong, who went on to win gold by defeating Kazakhstan’s Assel Kanay 8-2 in the final.

Earlier in the tournament, Malaysia had secured bronze medals in kumite through K. Thevendran and H. Sureeya Sankar on Sunday, contributing to the nation’s overall karate medal tally in the competition.