Fighter Jia Rong targets SEA Games after world exploits

She can do no wrong: Lee Jia Rong is now more confident to carry Malaysia’s colours onto greater stages. — Facebook

SEPANG: Wushu exponent Lee Jia Rong’s world-beating performance has fired up her bid to make the SEA Games squad.

The final list of exponents bound for Thailand in December has yet to be revealed, but the 21-year-old Johor-born fighter has made her case in glittering fashion.

In Brasilia, Brazil, she lit up the World Championships with two gold medals – in women’s daoshu and duilian and a bronze in gunshu, cementing her status among the sport’s rising stars.

For Jia Rong, the triumph in Brazil was more than medals – it was a transformation.

She is now more confident to carry Malaysia’s colours onto greater stages.

“I hope to get selected for the SEA Games, but it depends on who the coaches feel is most suitable, as the situation there is different from the world meet,” said Jia Rong.

Jia Rong said it was not easy to win at the worlds.

“Preparing for this competition required a lot of hard work, training and discipline to earn this gold medal,” said Jia Rong.

“I need tougher training to be ready to take on stronger competitors.

“It’s different compared to the Asian competitions I attended previously,” said Jia Rong.

Jia Rong said the team had to tweak their training routine to keep pace at the world meet.

“The world meet took place in a completely different time zone, so we changed our training to the evenings to adapt to the timetable there,” he said.

“The hard work paid off.

“Everyone from around the world trained incredibly hard every single day just to compete at this level, and I think the one who made the least mistakes walked home as the world champion.”