KOTA BHARU: National Muay Thai star Ahmad Nor Iman Aliff Rakib harbours high hopes that the combat sport will become a medal sport in the Olympics soon, as he intends to be the first among firsts to swipe it.
Well, it was afterall a demonstration sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Aliff Rakib, 21, as he is popularly known in the ring, and who aspires to fight for a historic Olympic medal for Malaysia on the world’s most prestigious stage, said Muay Thai is increasingly gaining popularity among the young and needs to be taken to a higher level since Malaysia has great potential to compete on the world stage.
“If Muay Thai is competed in the Olympics one day, I want to be among those representing Malaysia,” he told Bernama recently. “I will train hard and deliver my best for Malaysia. Please support me, because I want to bring this success to all of us.”
Muay Thai, a combat sport originating from Thailand, has been a medal sport in several SEA Games, but has never been competed as a medal sport in the Olympics.
Meanwhile, commenting on his success a week ago in defeating Russian Shamil Adukhov in 70 seconds at the One Fight Night event in Bangkok, Thailand, Aliff Rakib said he was satisfied with the knock-out feat.
“I am very happy with the victory. I really expected to defeat him in the first or second round. Intensive training for a month paid off. I trained in Bangkok, lost weight and prepared well before the bout,” he said.
He reckons there is no marked difference between Muay Thai in Thailand and Malaysia, but local Muay Thai tournaments such as TFight (Muay Thai TFight 2025 Championship) held in Malaysia are now growing to be almost on par with One Championship.
Aliff Rakib, who is currently ranked second in his Catchweight category, has also set a target to bring the One Championship belt home to Malaysia.
“My target now is to win the One Championship belt, to be the first to bring it home to Malaysia,” he said.
He also encouraged young fans interested in Muay Thai to not focus on making money as their main goal, but rather to prioritise passion and fighting spirit.
“Success comes from effort, mental and physical endurance. If there is interest, we can go far.”
