The state muaythai fighters and team officials gather for a photo at The Summit Subang USJ.
KUCHING: Sarawak muaythai fighters had a fruitful outing at the National Youth and Inter-Schools Muaythai Championship at The Summit Subang USJ last Saturday.
The team of 25 fighters returned with six gold, one silver and five bronze medals from the three-day meet organised by the Education Ministry and the Malaysian Muaythai Association.
Sarawak Muaythai Association president Jumaat Ibrahim remarked that it was a very good achievement considering that muaythai is relatively new in the state compared to other states and that more than 500 competed in the tournament.
“I believe this is a better achievement than the previous year.”
He attributed the success of the state’s young fighters to the strong support from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Solidarity, Youth and Sports Department Sarawak, the parents, sponsors, supporters and all those who have contributed to the development of muaythai.
He predicts an upward trend in the achievement of the state muaythai fighters with Sarawak being so active in the sport for the last four years.
“Hopefully all active and aggressive muaythai propagators can join our state association for a concerted effort to produce more and good calibre fighters for the coming years,” he added.
He is also hoping that more schools would consider taking up muaythai in their co-curriculum.
“Congratulations to our schools like SMK Lundu, SMK Pending, SMK DPHA Gapor, SMK Sadong Jaya, SMK Kota Samarahan and SMK Green Road which had won medals in the championship.
“The same goes to Bintulu Muaythai Association, SS Fighter & Muaythai Gym and Kenyalang Muaythai,” said Jumaat.
Meanwhile, the gold medallists were Irfan Zafraan Khan from Bintulu Muaythai Association (18-21yrs – 51-54kg), Norashikin Asmandi (16-17yrs – 45-48kg) and Elia Zonia Peter Augustine (14-15yrs – 57-60kg) from SMK Lundu, SMK Pending’s Prtasarathee Punniyamoor (14-15yrs – 42-45kg), Mohd Khairie Nazmie Mohd Khir (18-21yrs – 45-48kg) from SMK Kota Samarahan, and Mohd Eswandy Hassan (18-21 – 67-71kg) from SS Fighter & Muaythai Gym.
The only silver medal was won by Sofi Ashrul (18-21yrs – 71-75kg) from Kenyalang Muaythai.
Those contributing bronze medals were Kabilan Javilan (16-17yrs – 54-57kg) of SMK DPHA Gapor, Mohd Syahmi Affif Sulaiman (16-17yrs – 45-48kg) of SMK Green Road, Mohd Firdaus Mood (14-15yrs – 42-45kg) from SMK Sadong Jaya, Bryan Mole Mangga (16-17yrs – 57-60kg) and Law Martin (16-17yrs – 48-51kg) from SMK Lundu.