Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s world champion Yan Jia Chi continued her impressive form to win another gold medal at the World Combat Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
She won the women’s wai kru title by beating the Philippines’ Bomogao Islay Erika and in joint third place was Abdulaziz Albarakal Atheer from Saudi Arabia and Ozheredova Alyona of Kazakhstan.
Fellow Sabahans Derora Dane Daniel and Myra Arina also did extremely well for the Malaysian contingent by winning a bronze in the mai muay female duo category, while para athlete Zulkafli Mohd Shaari from the Peninsula added another bronze in the mixed wheelchair wai kru category.
Sabah Muaythai Association president Nazri Abd Razak was delighted the athletes managed to surpass their one gold target.
“We are extremely proud of the girls. Yan has won three titles on the world stage this year and it was a very good overall achievement by our athletes.
“To win one gold and three bronze medals was also a very encouraging result for the country after a 10-year absence in the competition and I hope their success will inspire more Sabahans to achieve success in the future.
“However, the journey is still not over for us, and we need to maintain our focus on Sukma 2024 in Sarawak,” he said.
Meanwhile, head coach Cyrille Dhillon said their achievement was a milestone for the sport in the State.
“This is another achievement by a muaythai team from Sabah, I am really happy with the result and proud of Yan Jia Chi winning her third gold in a world event this year.
“Our maimuay duo also showed huge improvement in their scores compared to the previous event, but were rather unlucky to lose by only a few points to their Philippines’ opponents and had to settle for the bronze instead,” he said.
He also hopes the trio’s success will motivate other muaythai exponents in the State.
The World Combat Games is an international multi-sport festival featuring 16 combat sports and martial arts competitions, sports demonstrations and educational conferences hosted by leading martial arts experts.
The 11-day event which started on October 20 included aikido, armwrestling, boxing, fencing, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kendo, kickboxing, muay thai, sambo, savate, sumo, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu.
The national muaythai squad was represented by five athletes with Sabahan Mardiana Mohd Maulana as team coach.
* Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss.
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.