S’wak young fighters stage commendable show in Bangkok
KUCHING: Sarawak muaythai fighters contributed two bronze medals to the Malaysian contingent at the International Federation of Muaythai Amateurs ( IFMA) Youth World Muaythai 2018’ championships, which concluded in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday.
Maurien Hii Sie Lin from Kelab Muaythai D30 Miri received a bronze medal after losing to Belarus’ Polina Laminskaya in the semi-finals of the Girls Age Group 14-15 (57kg).
The second bronze from Sarawak was collected by Kelab Muaythai SS Fighters representative Johan Ghazali, who lost to Rustam Yunusov of Russia in the Boys Age Group 10-11 (38kg) semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Games ( Sukma) fighter Elias Ghazali Zulfikar got through the first round of the Boys Age Group 1415 ( 57kg), but lost in the second round to Jirasak Hinman from the hosting team, on points count.
Malaysian t e amm at e Prtasarathee Punniyamoorthy suffered the same fate – making it to the first round, but lost in the second to Mashal Islamzai of Afghanistan – the winner of the Boys Age Group 16-17 (48kg).
Two other Sarawak fighters were Syarif Nukman Norman (Boys Age Group 12-13– 34kg) from Kelab Muaythai Buaya Putih, and Ayu Addyqa Azmi ( Boys Age Group 14-15– 45kg) from Kelab Muaythai Kenyalang. They lost to Danii Dzedavets of Belarus and Nattapong Thaiprakon of Thailand, respectively.
Nevertheless, Sarawakians fared bet ter i n t he ‘ Muay Talay’ competition, held in conjunction with the IFMA World Championships 2018.
Maurien contributed one of two gold medals – the other was won by Malaysian team- mate Daniel Fiediens. The two silver medals offered in ‘ Muay Talay’ were clinched by Johan and Nur Adriana Dania.
Sarawak Muaythai Association ( PMNS) president Jumaat Ibrahim, when contact e d , congratulated all the fighters especial ly the Sarawakians who contributed medals to the Malaysian contingent.
“There is a need to uplift the training of our fighters so that they can compete with their counterparts from outside the country.
“This is not possible without the consistent training and commitment from all our fighters and coaches,” said Jumaat, who also took the opportunity to convey his thanks to Sarawak Sports Corporation chief executive Dr Ong Kong Swee, MSNS coordinator for muaythai Alexander Sirai and the Sarawak Education Department for their support to the Sarawak muaythai contingent.
He also thanked the Malaysian Muaythai Association ( PMM) vice- president Nazri Ab Razak, who was also the head of the Malaysian contingent.
The tally for Malaysia was one gold, one silver and seven bronze medals, which earned it the 15th spot among the 86 contingents participating in the Bangkok tournament. It is learnt that Turkey would host the next IFMA Youth World muaythai championships next year, followed by Malaysia in 2020 and France, in 2021. Jordan is still lobbying for the hosting job in 2022.