'Elopura Fights' Brings Muay Thai Fest To Sandakan

SANDAKAN, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- Sandakan is staging a real Muay Thai fest for fans in Borneo as 150 exponents, including from Thailand and Italy, clash in the Elopura Fights: Reunion of Champions Muay Thai tournament at SMJK Tinghua here from Jan 11-12.

Tournament director Mohamad Ajman Ajmain said the showcase tournament, featuring 120 amateurs and 30 pro boxers as well as a new generation of boxers at school-going age, is to put Sandakan on the sports map, with the town raised from its glorious past of being a 'Little Hongkong' when a British colonialist named it ’Elopura' (meaning 'Beautiful City'). 

He said SEA Games Muay Thai bronze medallist Riedzwan Norsyahmie Daud who is also a native of Sandakan, former world youth champion Dazaisy Hafiyy Aznee, 13, also known as Dracula, national Muay Thai legends Ali Yaakub (aka Captain Malaysia) and Hasril Nazmi (aka Dancing Boy) will be in the professional ring.

"We also received the entries of 85 students from all over Malaysia including Kedah, Penang, Kelantan and Selangor, whose participation is also recognised by the state Department of Education which will award marks for the recognised co-curricular activity," he told Bernama.

"As organiser, Sandakan Muay Thai Association wants to hard-sell Sandakan as a sports tourism draw besides its famous wildlife destinations of the Sepilok Orangutan Rehab centre, Langkayan Island and Sukau. There will be economic spillover to eateries, the transport and hospitality sectors like hotels," added Mohamad Ajman, who is also president of the SMTA.

Meanwhile, boxer Dazaisy Hafiyy, who is also the three-time national youth champion from 2022 to 2024, is ready to offer the local challenge to other boxers in the professional fight category.

For boxer Siti Alisya Nurdinawati Abdullah, 11, who has only been in combat sports for over a year, she promises no easy route for her opponents in the amateur category.

-- BERNAMA