PENANG judoka Goh Xuan Le is racing against the clock to get herself physically ready for the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia next month.
A knee injury while preparing for an international championship in Hong Kong in February has dealt a cruel blow to her SEA Games medal hopes, but Xuan Le, 23, is not giving up hope.
This will be her second appearance in the SEA Games, having made her debut in the Philippines SEA Games in 2019. Competing in the -52kg shiai (combat) category, she went as far as the second round.
“When I took part for the first time in the SEA Games, I was nervous. Since I have the experience as well as have been exposed to other tournaments, I am more confident now and would like to perform better.
“I am slowly recovering from my injury, and I would not rate my chances highly except that I would give my best shot. I have to be more careful in my training,” Xuan Le told Buletin Mutiara in an interview at the Penang State Sports Council gymnasium in Batu Uban.
In September 2021, Xuan Le underwent left knee surgery. As she was then recuperating from the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction, she had to miss the 2021 SEA Games that took place in Vietnam last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To help Xuan Le recover as fast as possible are two coaches – rehab coach Bu Yong Sheng and strength conditioning coach Mohd Azizi Shafie – at the gymnasium.
She undergoes physiotherapy and sparring on different days to hasten her recovery.
During her sparring sessions, she takes on mostly girls and some lightweight boys weighing 60kg and below from the Sukma training squad.
In January this year, Xuan Lee took part in the Southeast Asian Invitational Championships in Bayan Lepas, Penang, and bagged a silver medal.
At the age of 12, she took up judo following encouragement from her mother who knew a judo ‘sensei’ (teacher).
From then on, there was no looking back. In 2018, she went to Chiba, Japan, for a one-year training stint together with another Penang judoka, Kamini Sri Segaran.
The rigorous training immensely benefitted her and she returned to win a gold medal for Penang in the Perak Sukma in 2018 and the Kuala Lumpur Sukma in 2022.
Xuan Le, who is interested in wildlife conservation and drawing, is currently taking up a course in Environmental Science at the University of Nottingham Malaysia in Semenyih, Selangor.
The judo competition at the Cambodia SEA Games will be held at the Chroy Changvar Convention Centre in Phnom Penh from May 13 to 16.
National coach Mohd Nashriq Mohd Nassir, who is also from Penang, described Xuan Le as a dedicated athlete.
“It is very unfortunate that she was injured again recently. I hope by next month her injury will heal completely so that she can fight with confidence,” Nashriq said.
Apart from Xuan Le, two other Penang judokas – Kamini Sri Segaran and Amir Daniel Abdul Majeed – are also selected to represent Malaysia in the upcoming SEA Games.
According to Nashriq, both Kamini (57kg) and Amir Daniel (73kg) are now undergoing a two-month training stint in Japan.
Nashriq said Malaysia is banking on them to deliver medals as both won a bronze medal each in the last SEA Games in Hanoi.
In August last year, Daniel created history when he became the first Malaysian to win a judo medal in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, by bagging a bronze in the 75kg category.
The duo will return in time to join a national training camp in Bukit Jalil from April 27 before the whole team flies to Phnom Penh on May 11.
The SEA Games team:
Men: Haykal Ridzuan Edi Sutejo (60kg), Amir Daniel Abdul Majeed (73kg, Mixed team), Afiq Danish Zapri (90kg, Mixed team), Fakhrul Adam Fauzi Cruz (Mixed team).
Women: Alyaa Yasmeen Rosali (44kg), Goh Xuan Le (52kg), Kamini Sri Segaran (57kg, Team), Siti Nor Aisyah Sahabuddin (70kg, Team), Nur Ain Hafiezza Amran (Mixed team).
Team manager: Marjan Abdullah
Coaches: Mohd Nashriq Mohd Nassir, Othman Nizam Yeo.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud & courtesy of Goh Xuan Le