SEA Games champion Nurul Hidayah retires due to injuries

Bigger things to come: Nurul Hidayah aspires to become a policewoman.

PETALING JAYA: The national poomsae team will have to start the new year without experienced exponent Nurul Hidayah Abdul Karim.

The 25-year-old double SEA Games champion has made the decision to call time on her illustrious taekwondo career.

Nurul said it was the toughest decision she had to make after being involved in the sport for 15 years but knew she has to call it quits after having to deal with injury issues over the years.

Her last outing was at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September where she was left in tears after making a heart-breaking exit in the quarter-finals due to alleged unfair judging.

She was tied with an identical score of 7.780 points at the end of the two-round bout in the semi-finals against Iran’s Marjan Salahshouri but the judges awarded the win to the latter. A victory would have guaranteed her a medal.

It was her biggest regret after failing to follow in the footsteps of Sara Yap, who took bronze in the women’s individual poomsae at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

Sara subsequently had to retire in 2021 following a hip injury and Nurul was seen as the successor for her senior.

“I have a right hip injury, which is quite similar to Sara.

“I injured my left knee during intensive training in South Korea while preparation for the Asian Games this year.

“There are many more injuries but they have healed. I also fractured my right palm during freestyle poomsae training June last year.”

“I had to maintain many things if I were to continue. There is an additional routine I had to train for. A new category called freestyle poomsae has been introduced,” said Nurul, who took up the sport in 2008 as part of her co-curricular activities.

Hidayah has plans to complete her Sports Management degree in Universiti Malaya and then apply to join the police force.

“I will focus on taking courses like sport science and coaching for next year. It’s time to give back to the community,” said the Sarawak-born Nurul, who is back at her hometown for her internship.

“I was very interested in taekwondo when I was young. But I also want to follow in my father’s footsteps to become a cop. I hope I can achieve it after this.

Hidayah partnered Jason Loo to win the mixed pair event to contribute the only gold in taekwondo at the 2019 Philippines SEA Games and won again at the Cambodia SEA Games in May this year.

She won two medals at 2022 World Championship in Goyang, South Korea – a silver with Jason in the Under-30 mixed pair and a bronze with younger sister Nur Humaira in the Under-30 women’s team.