NAGOYA – Malaysia clinched the men’s kata team bronze medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after defeating Vietnam 3-2 at the Toyohashi Gymnasium here today.
Malaysian exponents Mukhriz Mazlan, Mohamad Haznil Henry and Muhammad Aiqal Asmadie produced a clean and energetic performance to edge their Vietnamese rivals and get on the podium.
The national trio had earlier defeated Kuwait 5-0 in the semi-finals.
That was Malaysia’s third bronze medal in karate as of today, after Thevendran Kaliana Sundram (men’s below 55kg kumite) and H. Sureeya Sankar (men’s below 60kg) also finished third in their kumite events
For Aiqal, the achievement proved that his partnership with Haznil and Mukhriz, which was formed only about two months ago, is capable of producing positive results on the Asian Games stage.
“It felt like we were in the final. When we were performing, we definitely felt like it was the final, not like we were fighting for the bronze medal. We went all out and everything seemed to work,” he said. – September 23, 2026