PETALING JAYA: National taekwondo coach R. Dhanaraj has to put aside thoughts of celebrating Deepavali with his family and hoping for one of his charges to lift his spirit by beating the odds to secure a medal in the world championships, which begin tomorrow.
Dhanaraj left with a four-member team for Copenhagen on Sunday and they will only return home next Tuesday.
It will not be the first time that Dhanaraj is not celebrating Deepavali at home but he said that this was something he had to come to terms with.
“Moreover, my wife just gave birth to my first son five months ago and she asked why I could not make arrangements for someone else to go,” he said.
“But this is the world championships and I just cannot cast aside my responsibilities. This group of exponents have stayed on through tough times and the least I can do is to be there for them when they fight.”
Malaysia have three male exponents in the biennial championships – Rusfredy Petrus (flyweight), Ryan Chong (bantamweight) and Afifudin Omar (featherweight). And 2008 Beijing Olympian Elaine Teo is the only Malaysian woman in the fray, contesting the flyweight division.
Dhanaraj has left out another Beijing Olympian, Che Chew Chan, to give her more time to recover from a knee surgery.
“It’s better for Chew Chan to recover fully and focus on defending her SEA Games gold medal in Laos in December,” he said.
It has been a trying time for Dhanaraj in preparing the squad for the Laos Games because of uncertainties in participation in championships due to the status of the national body and the A (H1N1) flu outbreak.
“We have not gone for a competition thus far this year. Our top fighters will get good tests ahead of the SEA Games in the world championships and I am not putting any pressure on them,” he said.
“They are looking forward to fight again and I will be most happy if we come home with a medal.”
Incidentally, Dhanaraj is one of only two Malaysian exponents to have won a world championship medal. He claimed the featherweight bronze in Seoul in 1989 and Wong Ching Beng matched the effort in the bantamweight category in New York in 1993.
to all members of OCM, NSAs, Sponsors, Media, and etc. HAPPY DEEPAVALI
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