Leap of faith for the daring

Parkour is becoming increasingly popular in Malaysia.

BEFORE Abudi Alsagoff, 22, knew what parkour was, he was a nerd who spent most of his time indoors. All his free time was spent reading manga, watching anime, playing online games and hanging out with friends.

But all that changed when his friend showed him a parkour video on YouTube and introduced him to the sport in 2007. Abudi became the champion of the Indo Freerun Championship 2011, which featured freerunners from all over Asia. He is now gearing towards representing the region at the World Freerun Championships which will be held in the United States later this year.