Grand Master Chew Choo Soot
Mr. Chew Choo Soot was born on 7th February 1922 in Alor Star, a Northern State of Peninsula, Malaysia, Mr. Chew Choo Soot lost his father when he was still an infant and was brought up under the strict discipline of his grand father and elderly Confucius scholar of the old school of China. He was not given any encouragement to partake in any branch of physical culture, as his grandfather believed in book and education and not in martial arts.
However, at the age of 15, Mr. Chew Choo Soot enrolled for Weight lifting training at one of the small body building clubs in Epoh, where he grew up in his school days. Due to his keen interest in the training he progressed rapidly and eventually became the national weight lifting champion in both the feather weight and the light weight classes in 1939, 1941 and 1942. During those years he also acquired an interest in martial arts and took up judo, jujitsu and wrestling. It was not until at the age of 20 that he was introduced to the art of karate-do.