Ten members of the national karatedo team will undergo an eight-month intensive training in Tehran, Iran as part of their preparations for the 2013 Myanmar Southeast Asian Games and the 2014 South Korea Asian Games.

Philippine Karatedo Federation Secretary General Raymund Lee Reyes said that the training camp has two cycles. The first cycle will begin on January 22 until April 15 while the second phase is scheduled on June 1 to November 15.

“Apart from their regular training, our athletes will be competing in some local tournaments in Tehran to further hone their skills,” said Reyes.

The team is composed of Jayson Macaalay, Rexor Romaquin, Antonino Ramon Franco, Michael Badil, Eugene Stoner Dagohoy, Mae Soriano, Joanna Ylanan, Princes Sicangco, Raquel Luzares and Gay Mabel Arevalo.

They will be supervised by Iranian coach Ali Parvinfar and Filipino mentor Reiner de Leon.

After the first cycle of the training, the squad will be flying back to Manila to compete in the 2013 Southeast Asian Karate Federation Championships (SAKFC) on April 18 to 21 which the country will be hosting in Angeles City, Pampanga.

“That tournament [SAKFC] will be a good test. We’re optimistic that they’ll be able to learn a lot from this training camp,” Reyes said.