Sukma: 5 S’wak muaythai boxers advance to finals on Aug 20

BINTULU (Aug 18): Five out of six Sarawak muaythai fighters have qualified for the finals on Aug 20. Their success resonated with the wild cheers of Sarawakians who turned up to support their heroes and heroines. Among the five finalists are two female fighters.

Maurien Hii Sie Lin was the first to secure her spot in the finals, outscoring Melaka’s Zuhrotunnisak Mohd Masdar with a close 13-11 victory in the 48-51kg category.

Hii’s success led to Cherilynn Christalle Qi Q Chan who overpowered Noor Shafnieyza Syaherah from Kelantan in the 51-54kg semi-final.

The Sarawak squad is optmistic of picking up at least two gold medals eventually through Muhd Mikail Ghazali Zulfikar (‘Miki’) and Texas Jeremy Lo.

Miki clinched a 23-21 win against Tengku Muhamad Adam of from Terengganu in the 51-54kg bout.

Today, Texas was not as swift as his quarter-final win which lasted only six seconds but he still dominated Sharil Aiman Abu Hanipah of Selangor to win 18-6 in the 54-57kg semi.

Azhad Haziq Syafaat Abdul Khalid brought out some of the loudest cheers from the crowd with a 16-10 victory over Johor’s Azharul Haqimie Nor Azman in the 67-71kg category.

However, in the men’s 60-63.5kg event, Sarawak’s Mohd Izzat Zulfaqar Hazrid fell to Terengganu star fighter Nor Iman Aliff Rakib 5-24.

The Sarawak fighters are looking forward to even higher levels of action and bringing even greater excitement to their supporters in the finals.