Thevendran Kaliana Sundram Won Malaysia's First Medal of the Asian Games With a Karate Bronze in Toyohashi
H. Sureeya Sankar added a second karate bronze for Malaysia on the same day by beating Vietnam's Chu Van Duc 10-2 in the under 60kg kumite.
Thevendran Kaliana Sundram won Malaysia's first medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on 20 September 2026, taking bronze in the men's kumite under 55kg at Toyohashi Gymnasium.
Thevendran beat Nepal's Rakesh Manandhar 9-1 in his bronze medal bout, scoring six yuko and one ippon while conceding a single yuko. He had earlier lost to an opponent from Uzbekistan before coming back through the bronze playoff.
H. Sureeya Sankar then gave Malaysia a second bronze in the men's kumite under 60kg, beating Vietnam's Chu Van Duc 10-2. "I am very happy to win my first medal for Malaysia, especially since Sureeya won as well," Thevendran said, adding that he had wanted to pass positive energy to his teammate.
Sureeya said he was happy but still disappointed to have missed out on the final, and hoped the medal would bring something meaningful for Malaysia.
Malaysia have sent 352 athletes to compete in 30 sports at the Games, which run until 4 October, and are targeting 6 gold, 7 silver and 20 bronze medals. Karate was one of 13 sports identified by officials as having strong medal potential, alongside badminton, squash, sepak takraw, track cycling and wushu, and chef de mission Mohd Sumali Reduan described the target as realistic.