World champ Cheong Min starts from zero

TAN Cheong Min (pic) is putting aside her status as world champion to start from scratch in the wushu competition starting at Chroy Changvar Convention Centre today.

The 25-year-old admitted that she was under immense pressure to keep Malaysia’s good record in the women’s nanquan at the Games.

Malaysia have always taken gold in the women’s nanquan, winning six of the 10 gold medals offered in seven editions from 2007 to 2017.

Diana Bong won on four occasions (Korat 2007, Vientiane 2009, Naypyidaw 2013 and Kuala Lumpur 2017) while Cheau Xuen bagged it twice (Palembang 2011 and Naypyidaw 2013).

The women’s nanquan was not included in the last two editions in Philippines in 2019 and in Hanoi last year.

Cheong Min first made her presence felt by finishing fourth at the 2018 Indonesia Asian Games before securing a career breakthrough by taking gold at the World Wushu Championships in Shanghai a year later.

She won gold in the nandao event and also secured silver in the nanquan, which saw her picking up the National Sportswoman of the Year award last year.

The petite lass said she has no problem handling the heavy expectations and feels it helps her to keep focus on the task ahead when she steps out for the nanquan event today.

“Honestly, I feel athletes should feel pressure because that can spur them to do better. I want to use this pressure as motivation,” said the Melaka-born exponent.

“My approach after every victory is - I start from zero again.

“I have not changed much of the choreography and difficulty level as this is just my first competition this year.

“I missed the Philippines and Vietnam SEA Games as my event was not offered. But I have been continuously training and I became world champion in that period, so now I’ll continue the performance here.”

A total of four gold medals are up for grabs on the first day of wushu competition today.