WITH the Philippines Sea Games and Turkey World Junior Championships looming on the horizon, the national team scored a timely morale boost at the East Asian Muaythai Championships which concluded in Hong Kong on Sunday.
The squad bagged three gold medals through Rifdean Masdor (men’s Under-48kg), Nur Amisha Azrilrizal (women’s Under-51kg) and Mohamed Mahmoud (Under-67kg) and two bronze through Tasha Amira Abdul Rahman (women’s Under-45kg) and Zulhelmi Rosli (Under-51kg).
Rifdean, who finished runner-up at the recent Bangkok World Championships, Amisha and Mohamed defeated opponents from Hong Kong in their respective bouts.
Malaysia Muaythai Association president Datuk Muhammad Shahnaz Azmi was surprised by the result.
“We sent five exponents to Hong Kong to prepare them for the Sea Games and the World Junior Championships. We did not place any specific targets for them,” said Shahnaz.
“I am very pleased with the results. I am happy for Rifdean and Amisha as they had to juggle training and school to prepare for this meet.”
Amisha, a silver medallist at last year’s world junior meet, and Rifdean will sit for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations this year.
The duo will head to Antalya for the world junior meet on Sep 28-Oct 6, which will feature over 2,600 exponents from 116 nations, followed by the Philippines Sea Games on Nov 30-Dec 11.