Mohammad Zaheer Afie poses with his silver medal
MOHAMMAD Zaheer Afie bin Zahirruddin etched his name into the record books after becoming the first Bruneian to win a medal in an international hapkido event at the South East Asia Hapkido Championship 2018 at the Heartbeat @Bedok in Singapore recently.
The national exponent grabbed silver in the men’s senior 1 Hyung (pattern) category and bronze in the men’s senior 1 Nakbeop (long jump rolling) category at the World Hapkido Martial Arts Federation (WHMAF) sanctioned event.
Hosted by Singapore, the participating countries also included Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South Korea.
“As I had previous background in competing in pattern categories in karate at national level and performing patterns of various martial arts background, I had confidence for the Hyung category… although I was quite surprised that I managed to get a bronze in the Nakbeop event,” Mohammad Zaheer Afie was quoted as saying.
“When we were called upon for the long jump rolling event, I thought it is over because I’m the shortest competitor compared to others from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia,” he added.
“I even managed to break my own personal record of two metres by jumping over three metres during the Southeast Asia Hapkido Championship in Singapore.
“Nonetheless, as an athlete and a martial artist, I put my confidence to the test despite the slim chance and finally managed to get a bronze medal from eight competitors,” he said.
Mohammad Zaheer Afie will represent Brunei at the 2018 WHMAF World Hapkido Championship in Seoul on July 29.
