Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s head coach was impressed with the strong bond displayed by the State’s muaythai exponents from various clubs at the Premier Cup Championship held in Bintulu, Sarawak recently.
Cyrille Dhillon said the 46 athletes from four gyms/clubs who represented the State showed tremendous team spirit in supporting each other against their opponents during the competition.
He was also pleased with the attitude of the athletes and the overall results achieved by the combined team.
Team Tambuakar Papar represented by 25 athletes, were crowned overall champions by winning a total of 16 golds. Members of team Revolution Combat Gym, Unicorn Muaythai Gym and D’sha Muaythai.
The other representatives from Sabah were Revolution Combat Muaythai Gym and D’sha Muayfit Tawau, both with nine members, and 66 Unicorn Muaythai Gym Sandakan with three.
“The results achieved by our athletes aged from 8 to 25 indicated the progress of the sport is in line with Sabah Muaythai Association’s (SMA) long term development plan in preparing for Sukma 2032 with Sabah as hosts,” he said.
The competition also saw Sabah’s elite athletes taking part in the professional superfight division.
Sukma 2019 gold medallist Nurul Tasha Amira from Revolution Combat Muaythai Gym made an unsuccessful comeback in the professional 45kg premier cup superfight division after losing to her Selangor opponent.
Teammate Mohd Nur Iman Madley also lost his pro superfight 48kg division (Under-18) but Areen Khan Shahzam won in the class A muaysport 48kg division.
Three fighters from Team 66 Unicorn won their respective fights with Riedzwan Norsyahmie victorious in the pro superfight 60kg premier cup division, Dazrey Azree in the class A muaysport 54kg division and national number one ranked Dazaisy Azree in the pro superfight 32kg.
Dsha Muayfit Tawau’s Mohd Sharizan and Helmi Samsir both won in the pro superfight premier cup 54kg and class A muaysport respectively.
Meanwhile, SMA president Nazri Abd Razak congratulated the athletes and thanked the parents for their support.
He also expressed his gratitude to Sarawak Muaythai Association for giving the State athletes an opportunity to compete.
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