Sarawak teen star wins world title in Hong Kong
KUCHING: Sarawak youngest international champion Kabilan Jelavan Tiagarajan returned home yesterday with the championship belt from the recent World Muay Thai Championship International-1 (WMC I-1) in Hong Kong.
He took the title for Malaysia in the 57 Kg category after a mesmerising performance against Hong Kong’s Jason Tang. He won by a unanimous decision.
With the WMC I-1 World Muay Thai Championships win Kabilan now holds the World Kick Boxing Championship (WKBC I-1) crown.
WMC I-1 invites champions of regional competitions around the world to fight in what is essentially a ‘Champions Only’ event.
Kabilan, 18, walked away with the prize money of HKD3,000 , a medal and the Championship Belt.
The ‘one fight winner takes all’ event was televised in regional Hong Kong and Chinese channels as well as in Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Singapore where the following for the sport is big.
Team manager Sulaiman Salleh said Kabilan was chosen to represent Malaysia due to his victory at the Maxx Muay Thai Challenge in Pataya, Thailand earlier this year and he will be competing in the same competition again next year.
Sulaiman, who is instrumental in the rise of Kabilan in the Muay Thai world, was all praises for his young protégé, commenting on his excellent discipline and dedication to the sport.
He has no qualms about predicting that Kabilan could go on to win more honours for Sarawak and Malaysia.
New Sarawak Tribune met up with Kabilan at the arrival hall of Kuching International Airport where a small group of family, friends and supporters gathered to greet the newly-crowned world champion.
The seemingly shy Kabilan was pleasantly surprised to see the crowd as he is used to going about his business with little or no fanfare.
Due to limited funding, most of the time Kabilan would travel solo to events, only accompanied by his coach A Karadesh Seesombat, fondly known as Addy, from Thailand.
Addy was with Kabilan in Hong Kong for the final bout on Tuesday night.
Kabilan, who has ambitions to get into the aerospace industry, is focusing on Muay Thai for now but with his feet firmly on the ground he also has aspirations to further his studies so that he can have a career to fall back on.
He thanked his mentor, Sulaiman who is also the president of Muay Thai Kuching, as well as the SS Fighters Muay Thai Club here from which Kabilan had learned and blossomed into the formidable fighter he is now.
Sulaiman attributed Kabilan’s growth to the numerous exposure outings he had been given both by his club and the state association as well as the national body.
Kabilan’s trip was jointly sponsored by Sulaiman, Muay Thai Sarawak and the Malaysian Muay Thai Association.
The sport apparently badly needs better sponsorship and funding if Sarawak is to see more accomplished fighters emerge in the future.
As for Kabilan, he is keeping his head down and pushing on to chase his dreams.
He can only hope that either the state government or federal government will help him when decides to further his studies. In the meantime, he has his eyes set on the Pattaya Maxx Stadium Challenge in January next year.
