Faizal wins Super 8

Faizal Ramli of the Malaysian Tigers, appeared victorious last night, booking himself a place on the Contender Asia Season 2.

In his first bout Faizal came up against Khoo Meng Yang of TNT Kickboxing. In this fight we had our fingers crossed, we were all a little nervous but it soon became clear that all Faizal's extra work in training had definitely paid off.In the second fight, Faizal came up against Wes Jaya, the mystery fighter. Now no longer a mystery man, Wes proved himself as a skilled fighter, an especially good boxer with a mean left hook! Unfortunately for Wes, this wasn't enough to save him from Faizal's lethal elbow strikes, cutting Wes on the forehead and near his eye. Forcing Wes to a concede defeat by technical KO in round 2.In the finals, it was Alif from Boxxwarriors Gym against Faizal Ramli of the Malaysian Tigers. Alif was definitely the biggest surprise of the night, he came in looking physically fitter than his previous profile shots. He fought his way to the finals well, impressing us all with his skills and he definitely proved himself a smart fighter. But this was not enough to spare him from Faizal's powerful low kicks, in the end, Faizal won the battle appearing victorious and booking himself a place in Contender Asia Season 2 which will be shot here in our beautiful country MALAYSIA.

Home away from home!!!

Above, the pool area...........below, the first floor apartments occupied by the fighters and trainers.......

Our fighters will temporarily leave their new home in Kota Damansara for Kota Bharu tonight to attend the Contender Asia II Malaysian Qualifier. Most of them will be fighting in the undercard fights.
Right next to the apartments where our fighters and trainers stay, is the jungle, with monkeys & beruk's'! And a diverted stream flows right outside their bedroom windows. You can hear the gurgling stream and crickets when you sleep, I'm sure our boys feel right at home when they close their eyes at night, well hopefully anyway! Then we have Mail, Zeri and Bernard (the true kampung boys) checking out the 'ikan haruan' in the stream. Their daily conversation besides fight tactics is how to get at the 'ikan haruan'. 'Pasang taut' and all sorts of 'pukat'.
Most nights around 10pm after a long day training, the fighters go for a swim in the pool to relax their aching muscles and to cool down. Here's a warning, never, I repeat never, go for a swim with these guys. They take great pleasure in 'drowning' people..........just for fun...........so it's probably wiser to watch from a far!

Mail and Amin getting ready for the 9km jog to the gym.The fighters do this twice a day!!!

No more foreign fighters for local events

Kelantan Teams Not Allowed To Import Muay Thai Exponents

TANAH MERAH, April 19 (Bernama) -- The Kelantan state government has barred state teams from engaging the services of foreign Muay Thai exponents for competitions.

Committee chairman for Human Development, Youth, Sports and NGO's, Abdul Fatah Mahmood said the decision was among terms and conditions set by the state government to allow Muay Thai competitions to be organised in the state.

"The condition however does not apply for international competitions," he told Bernama here today.

He added that the main objective of state to allow Muay Thai competitions was to develop the sport and produce more talented local exponents in the sport.

"If teams engage foreign exponents to compete in local tournaments, it will defeat the purpose of organising such competitions and also result in local aspirants staying away from such competitions," he said.

Abdul Fatah said a seminar would be organised next month for those who are interested in the sport and is expected to be opened by Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

-- BERNAMA