00:00These are the Ablak sisters, 10-year-old Samira and 7-year-old Leah.
00:04They were exposed to martial arts at a very tender age, with both aiming to reach very far in their
00:09sport.
00:11Guiding the two is Dr. Dexter Shim, who's a sensei attached to the Karate Do Center in Maraval.
00:17Regarding Samira, he is impressed with what she's been able to achieve so far.
00:21By the time she was about four or so, she was actually training more than some of the biggest children
00:28in the dojo.
00:29And a very, very talented young lady.
00:32She developed what we would call physical literacy through that exposure at that young age.
00:40And as a result of that, she has taken off in her training in a way that we don't see
00:47young children take off.
00:49Samira is hoping to take part in the Pan American Karate Championships in Costa Rica in June.
00:53After that, both sisters aim to represent TNT at the Commonwealth Karate Championships in Scotland in the month of November.
01:01But funding is necessary, hence the reason Dr. Shim is making a request for assistance.
01:05I think funding is one of our major challenges.
01:11We would like to make a serious appeal to corporate, private and government sponsorship to give us a little bit
01:20more.
01:20Because right now, the parents and dojos have to fundraise.
01:26We do intense fundraising.
01:29At the end of this month, we have a little, you know, what we call a barbecue thing.
01:36That is, we hope to raise some money to send the athletes away.
01:40And we do this regularly through the year.
01:43Their black siblings study at the El Dorado South Hindu School,
01:46which means they have to make time for their studies and karate.
01:49Focusing on the elder sister, Dr. Shim says she's on the right track.
01:53She continues to train. She's a dedicated student.
01:58I must say at this point in time that her parents support her 100% in her endeavours.
02:04She trains five to six times a week and also maintains her A average in school.
02:11So she's not just, you know, one-sided person.
02:16And what are the thoughts of the young ones?
02:19As far as Samira is concerned, she wants to put the Twin Island country on the map.
02:23Ever since I started, I didn't, well, really like it.
02:30But then as I got accustomed to it, I started to like it and then now I start to love
02:37it.
02:37I aim to achieve to try to medal in the Olympics and to become a world champion where everybody knows
02:46me.
02:46And younger sister Leah too cannot be left out.
02:49After all, she has learnt a lot through the sport.
02:52I would like to compete in the Olympics and I would like to medal.
03:00So I love representing my country.
03:04It makes me feel good about myself.
03:08One thing's for sure, mom Nadia and dad Ryan keep encouraging their daughters to aim for the stars.
03:15It was eventually go on.
03:16Now it's basically myBrown, YouTube's export.
03:17All right.
03:18Feldman James,
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