MY FIRST FIGHT

I can’t believe I did it. I won my first Muay Thai competition.

- ANTHIA CHNG

The lead-up

Rewind back to a couple of months before the day. I’d been doing Muay Thai for about two years, previously at a few gyms across the island before planting my roots in Hilltop Academy on Serangoon Road.

One day during training, my coach came to me and asked if I’d like to compete in the National Qualifier. Now, if you know anything about Muay Thai (or martial arts, at least), competitions are never riskfree. I mean, the goal is to win, but everyone wants an impressive win by knockout. We decided that I’d first go through the fighter programme, leading up to the next competition in slightly over a month.

I had to drop three kilos to meet my fight weight (53kg), but that wasn’t even the hardest bit. Two weeks into training, I’d already lost two kilos. I ate as I normally did, only limiting my junk food and sugar intake. Oh, and I was also on an alcohol ban – now that was tough! Another challenge was making sure I didn’t lose too much strength in the process, as this would affect my performance during the fight. To help with that, I loaded up on my rest at night and ate healthier snacks before each training session.