Sibling rivalry: Pte Hamid Sotounzadeh defeated his brother Mohammad at the final of welterweight division of the World Taekwondo Festival and Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

IT was the stuff of martial arts folklore when Pte Hamid Sotounzadeh met and beat his pupil in the final of welterweight division of the World Taekwondo Festival and Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

Even stranger than fiction, of all the opponents he could have encountered from the 30 countries involved, his gold medal opponent was his younger brother Mohammad.

Watched by their older brother Reza and cousin Mehrdad, the brothers produced a close, hard-fought match to conclude the June 29–July 2 tournament.

After a drawn first round at 4-4, with many kicks exchanged, an intense and exciting second round produced equally aggressive tactics.

Pte Sotounzadeh’s aggression forced Mohammad on the defensive and he incurred a penalty for exiting the boundary of the court. In the final moments of the second round, Pte Sotounzadeh executed an accurate and timely axe-kick to his opponent’s face, which earned him two points for an 11-8 lead.

In the final round Pte Sotounzadeh, a third-dan black belt with the World Taekwondo Federation, proved the strength of his resolve and took home first place with a 12-9 scoreline.

Pte Sotounzadeh, a medical assistant from 3HSB Melbourne, began taekwondo in Iran at the age of 13 and in their younger days he coached and taught his brother basic sparring.

He gained his blue belt a year after taking up the sport, but fought in a red belt division in the state championships and finished first. Attaining his black belt by 16, he was third in the national championship and invited to the junior national team camp.

“At this time, attending international tournaments was heavily restricted due to a variety of reasons such as the war between Iran and Iraq, an international crisis in the region and oppressive government policy,” Pte Sotounzadeh said.

“In 1991-1992, I represented Iran in two international tournament and won gold and silver.“
A former resident of Malaysia from 1997-2001, Pte Sotounzadeh was joined there by Mohammad in 2000. In 2001, when Pte Sotounzadeh migrated to Australia, Mohammad took over his brother’s business and established himself.

Now a property manager in Malaysia, Mohammad has his own TKD club which has trained several students for the Malaysian junior national team.

Initially, Pte Sotounzadeh was surprised to find himself facing his brother in the final but conceded “in life anything is possible”.
The two had never officially been matched, rather pitting their skills against each other in training.

“He usually fights in the lightweight category which is 72-76kg, and he was 2005 Malaysian Open champion and 2006 runner-up,” Pte Sotounzadeh said.

“I have to admit, it was really brave of him to fight in a heavier division (76-84kg).

“He also has a disadvantage because he had an operation (left eye) a few years ago, which diminished his vision by 70 per cent.
“However, I did not use it to my advantage during the match.

“I admire my brother because, despite this disadvantage, he is still fearless and very courageous and pursues his passion; contact sport.”

So, given all these circumstances and the somewhat surreal circumstances of fighting his brother in the final, Pte Sotounzadeh could be forgiven for taking it softly against Mohammad, right?

Quite the contrary, says Pte Sotounzadeh.

“We fight in a similar style and know each other from top to toe.

“Initially, when we both reached the final, I thought to myself that it really doesn’t matter who wins the gold or silver because we are from the same family and come from the same blood. But as the match grew closer, I told myself that ‘my brother is representing our country of birth, Iran, which I too used to represent when I was younger (1991-1992).

However, now I am representing my new home, Australia, and I have a duty to raise Australia’s flag, no matter what’.

“With this attitude, I felt more and more motivated and invigorated to do my best. I was just planning how to be more creative in the fight and what strategy I would need to neutralise his strength, which was a double-kick attack.”

It did not feel strange at all opposing his brother and, rather than thinking of going easy on Mohammad, he knew that if he gave him an opportunity, Mohammad “would be merciless”.

“I had to make a concerted effort to initiate an offensive game and force him to use a defensive shield. At the end of the first round, I realised that he had similarly planned a successful counter-attack, and that I needed to step-up my level of aggression and be really creative in my offensive tactic, and modify my usual counter-attack kick to confuse him. I reacted as I would have any other opponent; with a must-win mentality.

“Immediately after the match, I grabbed Mohammad, lifted him up and spun him around. I was so excited about how the match ended. He was also excited, despite losing, because he told me that it was the best match he had fought in his life. Later he admitted that he under-estimated my skill and ability.”