Victoria Point mother Linday Taskan, 44, and her daughter Sarai, 11,train for the world karate titles in the US. Photos by Melissa Gibson
A VICTORIA Point mother and daughter team will square up against some of the world's best this week when they represent Australia at the World Karate Championships in the United States.
This is the second time Linda Taskan, 44, and daughter Sarai, 11, will don the green and gold after taking home world titles at the ISKA 16th World Cup Championships in Sydney last year.
"We've only started karate and Muay Thai training a year ago, so I think we've both done really well so far," Linda said.
"In Sydney, I received firsts in two events and Sarai achieved a first, too."
Linda said they expected to face fierce competition at the championships.
"We'll be competing against 35 countries in the US competition. I think Sarai will do really well because she's been training really hard," Linda said.
"I think I'll find it a bit competitive, and that's because it's big and professional compared to here."
Linda and Sarai have been training four times a week in preparation and said they often struggled to walk up stairs after a rigorous session.
Linda said she and Sarai also enjoyed Muay Thai but competition was not their motivation for getting involved in martial arts.
"We first started because I was worried about my daughter and bullying at school," she said.
"I started because I was sitting in the car waiting for Sarai getting very bored and I thought, 'Why don't I join in?'.
"We prefer Muay Thai, the techniques are different, but Muay Thai helps you learn how to receive a hard hit.
"They do balance each other out; they work well together we find. We've done better by doing both (of the martial arts) cross training."
Linda said they were undaunted by the sometimes ferocious sports and Sarai had grown in confidence since beginning training.
"I do think Sarai has a natural ability and she doesn't mind the roughness of it," Linda said.
She said they owed a lot of their success to their Muay Thai trainer Dwayne Glasgow.
"He gives us so much confidence. He's been our biggest inspiration so he's helped us to get to America.
"Our karate training is at Redlands dojo with Garry Edwards," she said.
Linda will compete against women aged 40 to 49 while Sarai will be competing against in the 11-year-old division.
"Sarai will be competing against both boys and girls, but I will be competing against only women in my age group," she said.
