SINGAPORE – Danish Khairulnizam, 16, started his Brazilian jiu-jitsu journey when he was four years old.
But the martial art was not offered as a co-curricular activity at his secondary school, so he tried his hand at judo instead.
After winning a silver medal on his National School Games debut in 2022, the Assumption English School (AES) student came back stronger and clinched the gold at the B division boys’ Under-66kg final on Friday.
The three-minute bout ended in 37 seconds after Danish was awarded a full point for an inner-thigh throw against Fu Bingshen of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI). He had also earned a half-point with a leg sweep earlier.
Danish was not expecting to win as he felt there were opponents stronger than him. But he managed to execute his game plan well, he said.
The Secondary 4 student, who listens to rap music to energise himself before every fight, said: “I’m not the type of judoka to rush, I believe that if you wait and be patient, the things you want will come to you.
“Whenever I rush, I make more mistakes, so my game plan was to start defensive and try to counter his attacks.”
Danish plans to continue judo until he completes tertiary education and aims to represent Singapore in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“I plan to try out mixed martial arts in One Championship,” added the winner of the 2018 world youth jiu-jitsu championship in Abu Dhabi.
He was the sole victor from AES on Friday and his gold medal helped his team finish third overall in the B boys’ category, behind champions HCI and runners-up St Joseph’s Institution.
Powerhouses HCI and Nanyang Girls’ High School (NYGH) combined for 11 out of 14 wins across the A and B divisions on the final day of the competition at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
Tang Soon Onn, who coaches both schools, said his students remained committed to training for the competition despite the physically and mentally gruelling sessions.
The 63-year-old added: “I think the results today are fantastic. We usually don’t have expectations in terms of medal tallies, we just want our students to do their best.”
HCI were the overall champions in the A girls’ and both the A and B boys’ categories, while NYGH took home the B girls’ trophy.
Chloe Tan, captain of HCI’s A girls, said she was extremely proud of her teammates, but felt she could have done better.
The 18-year-old, who won the U-52kg final against teammate Cheng Hsin Peng, said: “I could’ve been more aggressive and attacked more. For some throws, I didn’t manage to finish pulling and I’ll work on that.”
While her NSG journey has ended, Chloe said she will stay in judo by training with the national youth team. She has her eyes set on representing Singapore at the 2029 SEA Games on home soil.
NYGH’s Germaine Foo has similar goals. The 16-year-old won the B division girls’ U-48kg final with a shoulder throw which gave her a full point to end her bout against schoolmate Ang Kuan Ning.
Germaine said: “I plan to work on my speed and precision when I continue judo in junior college.
“But my ultimate goal is to participate in the SEA Games and win a gold medal there.”
