Still the champ: Rifdean celebrating after beating Asror Karimov of Uzbekistan in the 48kg final.
PETALING JAYA: Rifdean Masdor showed that he is the real deal after kicking his way to a successful title defence in a day of triple joy for Malaysia in the World Muaythai Championships in Abu Dhabi.
The 20-year-old beat Asror Karimov of Uzbekistan 29-28 in the men’s 48kg final yesterday.
In Wednesday’s semi-final, Rifdean scored a knockout win over India’s Blaseibok Kharbuli.
The first-two bouts were in Rifdean’s favour (10-9, 10-9), which proved decisive for him to clinch the title.
Rifdean went to Abu Dhabi to prove a point after his category was left out of the Muaythai programme in the Vietnam SEA Games recently.
Rifdean was the gold medallist in the category at the Philippines SEA Games in 2019.
“I did not get to defend the gold in Vietnam because the 48kg category was not included.
“So I entered for kickboxing in the 51kg category instead at the Games (where he won a bronze).
“It’s not easy to reduce weight in a short time for this world championships.
“But today I showed that I’m still the best in the world in my category,” said the Perak-born fighter.
Mohd Hairie Mahmad had earlier clinched the first gold for the country by stunning home exponent Ahmed Dhaheri 29-28 in the men’s below 45kg final.
Newly crowned Hanoi SEA Games champion Ahmad Nor Iman Aliff Rakib went on to deliver the third gold with a classy 30-26 win over Iranian Mehrdad Khanzadeh Gharehtapeh in the men’s 54kg final.
Meanwhile, SEA Games silver medallist Nur Amisha Azrilrizal failed in her bid to become the first female Malaysian world champion when she lost narrowly 28-29 to Thailand’s Thanittha Plenjit in the 51kg category.
In the last four, Nur Amisha defeated Turkey’s Aysin Ozkilic 29-28.
It was still an improvement as Nur Amisha, who is from Perak, took a bronze in the world meet in Bangkok last year.
The Malaysia Muaythai Association did not set any gold medal target for the team as they had to leave for the world meet immediately after the SEA Games.
