Malaysian arm wrestlers eye 10 gold in KL World Championships

The Malaysia Armwrestling Federation (MYARM) have set their athletes a 10-gold target when they compete in the four-day World Armwrestling Championships 2023 from Wednesday (Sept 27) at Pavillion Bukit Jalil Exhibition Centre here.

MYARM president Zil Fadli said the national team, regarded as one of Asia’s superpowers, could achieve the target thanks to the presence of 2019 World Armwrestling Championship winner Joffrey Jolly and the championships being held on home ground. “Although we will face stiff challenges from other countries, we have the advantage of competing at home and in front of our own fans.

“We also have Joffrey, the 2019 world champion, and world runner-up Safuan Asif… in the junior category, we have Iryan Syauqi Azhar, who is the gold medallist at the 2022 Asian Championships,” he told a media conference that was also a ended by International Federation of Armwrestling (IFA) president Anders Axklo here Monday.

A total of 30 countries represented by over 500 athletes will be competing in the tournament, which Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh will officially open tomorrow.

The 56 national arm wrestlers will be vying in 30 categories. Malaysia last hosted the World Armwrestling Championships in 2015, also in Kuala Lumpur.