Abdullah has set his sights on gold

Junior sport Marwan Abdullah was not very fond of karate when he was growing up. He just could not share his father's enthusiasm for the sport and was a reluctant beginner.

Marwan Abdullah was not very fond of karate when he was growing up. He just could not share his father's enthusiasm for the sport and was a reluctant beginner, bowing to parental pressure. As he progressed through the basics of the sport, the youngster gradually got hooked and is one of the country's brightest prospects today. A late starter, the 17-year-old has won two gold medals in kata (a series of specified moves) at the Gulf championships since he started competing three years ago and is now looking forward to his first foray at the Asian level later this month.

Abdullah is part of the 16-member UAE team that will be taking part in the ninth Asian Senior Karate Championship in Guangzhou, China, later this month. The challenge will be difficult but Abdullah is hoping to script another success story at the biennial event that is held between the Olympics and the Asian Games. "This is the first time I will be participating outside the Gulf region," said the class 12 student, who plans to join the American University of Dubai next year.

"It is going to be a very tough championship, especially since it's my first. I will also be competing in the men's category, which makes it all the more difficult. There will not be many people from my age group; most of them will be over 21. "Still, I hope to well. I know it is going to be difficult, but I want to get the gold medal; that is my goal and dream." Abdullah's optimism stems from his gold-winning performance in the men's kata at last month's Armed Forces Officers Club's Ramadan Games in Abu Dhabi.

He overshadowed Egypt's Mustafa Ibrahim, a kata individual gold medal- winner at last year's World Junior Championship in Turkey, for the title. "The win over Ibrahim gives me the confidence that I can do well at the Asian Championship," said Abdullah, after winning a second gold medal in a week at the Super Tiffany Taekwondo and Karate Championship on Friday. The tournament was organised as a preparatory event for the Asian championship and Abdullah believes the event served its purpose.

"These competitions we are having between ourselves reduces a bit of the stress and gets us ready for China," he said. "Of course, I am also very happy that I am doing well every time and winning, and I hope I can continue this progress. We are getting better with every competition. "I think I am ready for Asia. I just need a bit more training, more time. I am new to karate. I have been in the sport for just three years. All my friends have been competing for 10 or 15 years."

In three years, Abdullah has achieved more than his compatriots, winning the gold medal at the Gulf championships in 2006 and repeating that success earlier this year in Bahrain. "I am really glad about the success I have had. I love what I am doing and the results have only served to encourage me," he said. Abdullah thanks his father for all the success: if he had not kept pushing his son, he would have never taken the sport seriously. "My father used to do a bit of karate when he was in the United States, so he pushed us to take part," he said.

"We did not like it at the beginning, but after a few years we started to enjoy it. So all the credit goes to him. I would not be here without his support and encouragement. "He is happy with what I have achieved and I want to make him really proud by winning the Asian title; if not this time, then some day soon." [e-mail]