KUCHING: Former national women’s rugger Fidelia Limang Telajan is considering retirement from the sport and will decline any call-up to join the national team.
Hailing from Miri, a city located about 750km north of here, the 27-year-old said playing for the national team for five years has been enough and feels that it was time for her to focus on her own career path.
“At this age, I should retire so that I can have more time for myself and focus on my choice career path. I strongly believe that there are many talented ladies out there who for sure have potential to represent the country,” she told Bernama when contacted here today (June 6).
Fidelia, 27, said she has not stopped playing rugby completely and is actually planning to further her coaching knowledge should there be an opportunity for her to do so.
“I am actually looking forward to work with Sarawak women’s rugby development and also pursue a career in occupational safety, health and environment,” she added.
Fidelia started playing rugby at the age of 17 in Perth, Australia for fun and when she returned to Malaysia, she joined a rugby team in Miri.
Her first rugby tournament appearance was at the age of 19 at the Cobra 10s tournament in 2012, before taking up an offer to play for the Dingoes Women’s Rugby Team in Kuala Lumpur.
She made it into the national team in 2014 at the Singapore Club 15s tournament and went on to represent the country at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea the same year.
The following year she continued to play for Malaysia at the 28th SEA Games in Singapore, as well as helped the national team win the gold medal for rugby in the 29th and 30th Games in Kuala Lumpur and Philippines, in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Other tournaments that she had competed in were the Borneo 7s in Sandakan in 2015 and Singapore 7s in 2017.
Besides that, she had also played in London with her university team there and other smaller tournaments. – Bernama
