BINTULU: Sarawak dominated the muay thai events at the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) with an impressive total of 10 medals — five gold, four silver, and one bronze.
Deputy Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu said the initial target was two gold medals, however, Sarawak’s status as the overall champions indicates significant progress for the state.
Rentap attributed the success to the proliferation of muay thai clubs across Sarawak, including districts like Sri Aman.
“We’ve seen many clubs expanding, which helps us discover more talented athletes from Sarawak and pushes us to even greater heights.
“Hopefully, this will further elevate the level of women’s muay thai, and we need to put more effort into this area,” he told reporters last night (Aug 20) at the Naim Street Paragon Mall.
Rentap also highlighted the invaluable support from local fans, which provided a tremendous boost to the fighters.
“The incredibly loud cheers certainly gave our athletes additional motivation,” he said.
For combat muay thai, the gold medal winners for Sarawak were Muhammad Mikail Ghazali (men’s 51-54kg), Texas Jeremy Lo (men’s 54-57kg), and Maurien Hii Sie Lin (48-51kg).
In the silver medal categories, Cherilynn Christalle Chan Qi Qi was defeated by Perak’s Nur Bisyarah Altisya Mohd Zairee with a score of 10-24 in the women’s 51-54kg final. Additionally, Azhad Haziq Syafaat Abdul Khalid lost to Sabah’s Hellmi Samsir in the 67-71kg men’s category, with a score of 15-26.
Sarawak also won two gold medals in the men’s wai kru and men’s mai muay but earned silver in the women’s wai kru and women’s mai muay.
Sabah finished in second place with ten medals — five gold, three silver, and two bronze — while Perak took third placing with six medals — four gold, one silver, and one bronze.
