KUALA LUMPUR – Muhammad Fatah Abu Bakar lived his life as a normal youth who loved combat sports, but he did not expect his life to change in the blink of an eye when he began to lose his sight at the age of 21.
In the beginning, Fatah, now 38, only experienced loss of vision in his right eye and was able to continue his life as usual, but after a year, his ability to see using his left eye was also affected.
“The doctors said it happened because of genetics, but none of my family members have this vision problem…(this may be) because of a mutation.
“I lost almost all of my vision…things look blurry like (they are shrouded in) a fog. It was suspected that there was a problem with the optic nerves.
“I used to be active in karate, taekwondo, boxing and rugby, and could read and drive, but now I can’t. Even if there are people in front, I only see a shadow, not a face,” he said.
Being forced to go through life with great constraints did not dampen Fatah's love and interest for combat sports and martial arts.
After looking for a way to continue practising martial arts around 2007, he found that para judo gives opportunities to those with vision problems to fight at various levels.
Not long after venturing into the new sport, he managed to win a bronze medal in the men's 66kg category in his debut at the 2018 Asean Para Games (APG) in Thailand.
For the APG this time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from June 3-9, Fatah hopes to achieve better results than before, having competed in the Asian Para Games and the International Blind Sports Federation World Games 2015 in Seoul, South Korea.
“Previously I competed in the 66kg category, but this time the organisers changed the category, so I may have to compete in the below 70kg category.
“As the weight is raised, the speed decreases, so I am training in the gym to increase muscle mass to be at my best,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's chef de mission to the Cambodian APG, Noor Syahieda Mat Shah, who visited the training and preparation camp of the judo exponents last night, is confident that they will be able to contribute medals for the country.
She said the actual target for the national contingent will be set after a target setting workshop with the National Sports Council and the stakeholders involved next week.
“We will set a realistic and relevant target. We don’t want to promise the moon and stars, but we are looking forward to improving (performance) from the previous edition (36 gold, 20 silver and 14 bronze).
“For now, we can see all the athletes are highly motivated to bring home success,” she said.
Apart from Fatah, the national judo team will also be represented by Mohd Khairul Azmi Abd Rahaman in the below 60kg category and Lee Chee Hock (below 90kg category). Both of them will be making their debut in the APG. – Bernama, May 10, 2023
