KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — National karate exponent S. Prem Kumar is eyeing the gold medal in his SEA Games debut at the Kuala Lumpur Games (KL2017) next month.

The athlete, who is a member of the ‘Kita Juara’ programme, is confident that his intensive training under national coach Andre Vasiljevs of Lithuania, will be able to yield a positive result.

"Although this is my first appearance in the SEA Games, I am determined to win the gold medal for the country.

"I must use the opportunity to represent the nation at the SEA Games as well as possible, because the coaches and my parents have placed high hopes on me,” he told Bernama.

Commenting on the preparation of the national squad, the Kuala Lumpur native said they had just returned home from training and competition in France, and had also participated in the Southeast Asian Karate Championships in Negeri Sembilan earlier this year.

The Malaysian Karate Federation is targeting six gold medals from 16 events at the SEA Games.

The events are scheduled to take place from August 22-24 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The national squad’s best achievement in karate at the SEA Games was when Malaysia were hosts in 2001 –  where they won nine gold medals.

Karate was not contested at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore. — Bernama