SELANGOR: Sarawak judoka Carmen Lee Jia Wen had every reason to pull out after injuring her hand, but chose to persevere and take to the mat for the women’s -48kg bronze-medal bout here today.
Carmen suffered the injury during her semi-final bout against Selangor’s Lucus Chong, which ended her hopes of reaching the gold-medal contest.
Sarawak judo coach Anderson Venus said he had advised Carmen against continuing, but the determined judoka insisted on fighting on despite the injury.
“I told her she should not compete anymore because of the injury, but she still wanted to fight. I asked her three times if she was sure, and each time she said she wanted to continue,” he told Sarawak Tribune at the IDCC Ideal Convention Centre Shah Alam.
Adding to the emotion was the fact that this was Carmen’s final SUKMA appearance, giving her even more reason to want to end her campaign on the mat.
Carmen was subsequently given the opportunity to compete in the bronze-medal bout, but the injury continued to hamper her performance as she lost to Terengganu’s Nur Syaza Irdani Zamani by ippon after 2:32.
“Her fighting spirit was there. She really wanted to compete despite the injury, but today it was just not our luck,” said Anderson.
Zamani also registered a yuko during the bout, while Carmen failed to score and neither judoka was handed a shido.
Although Carmen missed out on a medal, her decision to fight on despite the injury showed her determination, courage and fighting spirit in representing her state in her final SUKMA appearance.
