Compiled by C. ARUNO, ARFA YUNUS and R. ARAVINTHAN
AN 84-year-old woman in Pontian, Johor, proved that age was no barrier to learning martial arts, having practised taekwondo for nearly two decades up until her 70s, Sin Chew Daily reported.
She was forced to stop training some 10 years ago after she fractured her thigh bone while pushing a fruit cart at work.
The grandmother from Pekan Nanas was recently awarded an honorary first-degree black belt by the World Taekwondo headquarters in recognition of her dedication to martial arts.
Lim Sek Eng, who made a living selling fruits on a cart, started learning taekwondo when she was 58. At that time, her son was only 16 and had started teaching classes after earning a black belt.
Lim, who looked after the younger students in class, began observing and learning taekwondo.
With practice, she eventually developed a solid foundation in the various forms, stances and kicking techniques.
However, injuries she sustained while at work, followed by multiple surgeries, left her confined to a wheelchair. She was forced to give up practising taekwondo.
Her story reached the higher-ups at the World Taekwondo headquarters, and they awarded her an honorary black belt on June 6 this year in recognition of her 16 years practising the martial art.
Today, Lim spends her days looking after her grandchildren and sharing knowledge on traditional Chinese medicine with others. Despite her injury preventing her from practising the sport she loves, Lim remained optimistic about life.
“I don’t think too much. Every day when I wake up, I consider myself lucky to have earned an extra day (being alive),” she said.
> Several hens at a temple in Yilan county in northeastern Taiwan have made an incense burner their nest and have taken turns to incubate and hatch their eggs, China Press reported.
The temple began keeping chickens two years ago after it received several hatchlings.
Early this year, one of the hens took a liking to the incense burner and began using it as a nest. Soon, other hens followed suit.
Currently, three hens take turns to use the nest. When a hen is incubating her eggs, the other two will stay nearby and keep watch, displaying an unusual sense of teamwork.
Even though the hens can at times be scalded by hot incense ash, they remain undeterred and continue hatching their eggs there.
Xu said the chicks are taken indoors to prevent being preyed upon by cats and other animals.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
