Persevering for the gold after being punched in the eye, fighting in pain
Hangzhou: The national karate kumite athlete, Muhamad Arif Affifudin Ab Malik actually fought in pain while performing in the final of the -84 kilogram (kg) kumite event which saw him win the gold medal after beating the Kazakhstan athlete, Daniyar Yuldashev.
Already experiencing back and rib pain before the fight which forced him to take painkillers he was punched in the eye quite hard with 15 seconds left in the match at the Linping Sports Center, just now.
"I suffered an injury about a month ago and I took painkillers to reduce the pain. In the previous match, I was doing an attacking technique but Daniyar tried to fight back.
"And he punched me in the eye quite hard and I felt the pain. But there were only 15 seconds left and the coach told me to continue the match and do my best," he said.
In the semi-final action, Muhamad Arif erased the challenge of the athlete from South Korea, Baek Junhyeok with a result of 5-2 after winning a fierce 4-3 victory over the Indonesian athlete, Sandi Firmansyah in the quarter-final action.
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