Kurell Quamina and Saifullah Ali excelled last week at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) Pan American Kickboxing Championships in Mexico, as both nabbed gold in their respective events in leading T&T’s medal haul of 10.
PKATT Sport Martial Arts Association of T&T, the governing body for Contemporary and Freestyle martial arts in T&T headed by Martin MC Clashie took a team to the ninth edition of Pan American Championships held in Cancun at the Iberostar hotels and resorts from the October 26-30.
“I am elated with achievements of the team,” said Mc Clashie, yesterday. “They have been training quite some time but began to prepare for the Championships from February. They did very well.”
Quamina participated in three categories in the 16-17 age-group and picked up medals in all. She won gold in Point Fighting and silver in Musical Forms and Light Contact.
Ali, competing in the 13-15 age group, got the top prize in Point Fighting.
Other members of the team, which were coached by Junior Kistow and Russell Gomes, the assistant coach, that medalled were two from Michael Garcia (one silver, one bronze), and one each from Aidan Boodansingh, Ryan Ramoutar, Keah Johnson, Navindra Ramsarran.
Garcia secured silver in Musical Form and bronze in Point Fighting while Boodansingh, Ramoutar, Johnson and Ramsarran each bagged a bronze medal.
The group will have little time to rest as they will soon be preparing for the National Championships. Mc Clashie shared that it will take place at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Chaguanas from December 3-4. But he was even more excited to announce that T&T will be hosting next year’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships.
He said, “T&T got the okay from the Pan American council to host the CAC Championships next year. It will be held in Tobago at the new Shaw Park Complex.”
The local team thanked the Ministry of Sport for its support and sponsors that assisted the athletes in this momentous occasion.