KUCHING: The Kedah sanda wushu squad created history on Friday (Aug 16) when they clinched a gold and a bronze at the 2024 Malaysia Games (SUKMA).
What is more interesting is that is an all-Malay team, which is quite a rare feature since wushu is a Chinese martial arts.
If that’s not impressive enough, then consider this. All the team members, under the guidance of coach Muhamad Shafiri Mahmud, began as muay thai exponents before switching to sanda wushu just a few years ago.
The gold medal came courtesy of Wan Nor Amni Madihah Wan Mohd Faisal in the women’s 56-kilogramme (kg) event while Muhammad Amzar Amsyar Aznan delivered the bronze in the men’s 70kg event. Kedah have, thus, exceeded their three-bronze acheivement at the previous edition in Kuala Lumpur.
Muhamad Shafiri described their success as “an extraordinary achievement”, in addition to proving the capabilityy and determination of the Malay exponents in the sanda discipline, which combines combat techniques involving boxing, kicking and throwing.
“As you already know, wushu is a Chinese martial arts and I am thankful Kedah managed to break the mould as our boys are all 100 per cent Malay. Alhamdulillah, Kedah delivered one gold, one bronze from sanda wushu,” he told Bernama here.
Muhamad Shafiri also explained that their transition from muay thai to sanda wushu required a huge adaptation.
“It’s obvious that Kedah’s sanda is not the original version as we came from muay thai. Muay thai and sanda may seem alike but they are not. Muay thai is more of punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing and so on… sanda is more about the take-down and throw-down techniques. In muay thai, there are no such things,” he said.
He also said that their biggest challenge was during the previous edition in Kuala Lumpur when his exponents faced difficulty adapting themselves to the different rules and techniques in sanda.
But the exponents, through sheer hard work and a high level of commitment, managed to adapt and have now excelled at SUKMA 2024.
“I feel that the exponents have improved drastically… comments made by other coaches also showed that they respect Kedah because our performance level has risen so fast,” said Muhamad Shafiri, who hopes their success here will boost the Kedah contingent’s athletes to perform even better.
