Muay thai fighter Cheryl Gwa wins Singapore’s first silver medal at World C’ships

SINGAPORE – For six years, muay thai exponent Cheryl Gwa has been battling it out in the ring for a spot on the podium at the world championships.

Four times she faltered, at the quarter-finals in her debut in 2017, followed by defeats at the same stage in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

In her fifth outing at the May 4-13 Muaythai World Championships in Bangkok, she finally made her maiden final against Thailand’s Apichaya Lekmat.

With the judges awarding the opening two rounds to Apichaya, she needed a technical knockout (TKO) in the third and final round to clinch the gold.

While Gwa eventually lost the bout 29-28, it was still mission accomplished for the 32-year-old fighter as she won a silver in the under-48kg class – the first Singaporean to do so in the senior elite category at the prestigious event.

“I’m very proud to bring back Singapore’s first medal at this Games,” said the athlete, who picked up the sport in 2005 during a try-out session with her sister.

“The World Championships is where all the highest-level athletes go every year and it is very well known within the muay thai community. It’s really challenging to medal at this Games because there are many rounds to it... you have to win a few fights depending on the number of competitors before getting a medal.”

Gwa, who competed in a field of 14 fighters in her weight class, credited her rapid improvement to Thai trainer Meechai Junkaew, whom she started working with regularly a year ago.

The fighter has been turning heads since making her debut at the world championships in Belarus in 2017.

Then 26, she was drawn in the first round against French kickboxing world champion Fanny Ramos. Unfazed by the occasion, Gwa defeated Ramos without knowing the calibre of her opponent.

Gwa, who is founder of rock-climbing gym Lighthouse Climbing, said: “Because it was my first fight, I didn’t research who she was. I just fought and when I won, it got some people’s attention.”

It has not been smooth sailing for Gwa, however, as she faced critics who questioned her ability to compete in the cut-throat sport.

“Over the years, I’ve been told I was too old for this... people have doubted my ability. It’s not just the training or physical aspect of it. If the people you’re working with don’t exactly believe in you, then that’s very hard,” she said.

Three weeks before the Hanoi SEA Games in 2022, she was diagnosed with asthma and doctors advised her not to fight. But she persevered and won a bronze medal.

She said: “I didn’t do well and it was quite a bad performance... one of the worst, if not the worst, I’ve had. I expected maybe a different colour, not a bronze from there.”

More disappointment followed after she returned from Vietnam. An

11th-hour decision by the Singapore Muaythai Federation (SMF)

to cancel a trip to Abu Dhabi resulted in Gwa and her three teammates missing out on the 2022 world championships.

National coach and team manager Robert Yap was said to have attributed the cancellation to “a sponsor pulling out as the team could not guarantee a medal” and that the team had not “fulfilled attendance requirements for training”.

According to Gwa, there has been no contact from SMF since early July 2022, when she was asked to partially fund $8,000 on one-and-a-half weeks’ notice for her trip to the World Games in Alabama, United States.

As her carding as a national athlete was not renewed in 2023, she will not be able to compete in SMF-sanctioned events such as the World Combat Games and Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in October and November respectively.

As a result, Gwa had to fork out $2,200 for her two-week trip to Thailand for the world championships.

But she is undeterred by the challenges and plans to compete at the 2024 edition.

“My target is to replicate (this achievement) or do better. Trying to get the gold is possible within the next few years. And that’s my goal for now.”