Syed Saddiq’s role in helping Syarul win the world title

PETALING JAYA:

Financial constraints almost derailed national bodybuilders Syarul Azman Mahen Abdullah (pic) and Lilian Tan from coming out victorious at the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships.

Syarul successfully defended his world title in the athletic physique up to 167cm category while Lilian won the women’s 55kg and 30 years and above categories in Chiangmai, Thailand last week.

The 45-year-old Syarul thanked Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman for helping him get the RM20,000 awarded to him under the National Sports Incentives Scheme (Shakam) almost a year ago.

Syarul who won the Asian title in October, became the first athlete to emerge as the champion in the men’s Athletic Physique up to 167cm for the third straight time and said that his confidence was affected but his coach managed to get his mind on track.

“I waited for nearly a year. If he did not help me, I would not have competed in the world meet. “I did not have any money to prepare for it,” said Syarul at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 yesterday

“It was more challenging for me this year as there were more competitors and I was the defending champion. Many officials from other teams said a day before the event that the competition will be stiff and it affected my focus a bit.

“I only regained my confidence when my coach told me that I had the advantage based on muscle mass. Before the final, my coach told me not to drink too much water. So, I did not drink for nearly 15 hours ... I only ate dried stuff.”

Meanwhile, Lilian described her two-gold feat as the best in her career and thanked her friends for helping her raise funds through the social media.

“I managed to raise 15% from the fund. I had to fork out the rest. I want to thank everyone for their contributions,” said Lilian who repeated her feat in Bangkok (2012), Mumbai (2014) and Pattaya (2016).