Retired gymnast Farah Ann hopes to organise own competition next year

KUALA LUMPUR − Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, who announced her retirement from artistic gymnastics on Saturday, plans to introduce the Farah Ann Cup to allow young local gymnasts to showcase their talents.

The competition, which she hopes will take off as early as next year, is part of her retirement plan aimed at unearthing new local talents and helping to nurture them to become future Olympians.

“I know gymnastics is becoming more well-known and I hope to meet all the kids as well as their parents nationwide by sharing my knowledge with them.

“Hopefully, I can organise a competition similar to the Biles Invitational in the United States, which is owned by Rio 2016 champion Simone Biles. God-willing, the Farah Ann Cup will reach the international level, who knows,” she told a press conference yesterday.

According to Farah, she had sought the help of the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation on how to run the competition and would hold discussions with the National Sports Council on matters related to collaboration and sponsorship. 

Apart from the competition, the 2019 SEA Games champion also plans to run a gymnastics camp by the end of this year, where she hopes to impart her knowledge in the sport to the new generation.

Farah, however, admitted that coaching was not on her mind yet as she was more inspired to be an international artistic gymnastics judge.

“To be a coach, you must (firstly) do it full-time and secondly be parents to the athletes. I don’t think I will be able to do so at the moment,” said the 27-year-old, who is undergoing a gymnastics judging course.

In announcing her retirement on Facebook on Saturday, she also described her amazing journey in the sport over the last 25 years as being “a ride of a lifetime”.

Meanwhile, Farah said she was glad to have achieved almost everything in her career as a national gymnast, which culminated with her competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games last year.

“I think I am going to miss training a lot after this because I’ve been doing it almost every day. But, of course, I am excited to see what the future holds for me,” she said. – Bernama, March 15, 2022