Name Samantha Lau In-kwan
School St Paul's Convent School (Secondary Section)
Grade Form Three
Sport Karatedo (kata)
Achievements Samantha, 15, is a rising star of the Hong Kong junior karatedo team. She won the gold medal in the girls' senior kata (age 14-15) at the Hong Kong Karatedo Youth Games last year. Kata is a formalised sequence of moves.
She won a silver medal in the cadet female individual kumite (sparring) event at the Korea Open International Karatedo Championships and a bronze at the 10th Asian Karatedo Federation (AKF) Junior & Cadet Karate Championship in Hong Kong.
Samantha also did well at the international level, placing fifth in the cadet female kata event at the World Karate Federation Youth Camp & World Cup in Corfu, Greece, in June last year.
Soundbite 'Last year I faced a Japanese athlete in the AKF Junior & Cadet Karate Championship,' Samantha says. 'Karatedo originates from Japan, and their athletes all compete at the top level. Their basics are also the strongest among all the contestants. I was nervous earlier ... now I stay calm and treat them as normal opponents.
'My participation in the sport has encouraged my family to follow suit. My parents and younger brother are all karatedo athletes now, and my mum is even a qualified referee. Karatedo has become a daily topic at home.
