A lesson beyond the scoreboard
SELANGOR: Fourteen-year-old Ceria Manisha had trained her body for her first Malaysia Games (SUKMA), but when she stepped onto the platform, it was her nerves that proved hardest to lift during the weightlifting event at Dewan Seri Cempaka MPKJ on Saturday (Aug 16).
The young Sarawak weightlifter was unable to register a successful snatch across all three attempts, ending her first SUKMA campaign before she could proceed to the clean and jerk.
However, for her, those three unsuccessful attempts were not simply a result to forget. They exposed a side of competition she had yet to fully prepare for – the mental battle that comes with performing under the bright lights of a major Games.
“I need to train more on my technique and also take care of my mental stability during my lifts.
“I was physically prepared, but mentally, I was not ready,” she told Sarawak Tribune.
Ceria said she had been nervous throughout her attempts, with the atmosphere surrounding the competition adding to the pressure.
The lights on the platform, the spectators watching and the judges scrutinising every movement gradually crept into her mind, making it difficult for her to settle into the lifts she had trained to perform.
“Everything feels like a mistake. Like one wrong move and I’m done,” she added.
A different kind of stage
It was a feeling she had not experienced to the same extent despite already having several competitions under her belt.
Ceria had competed at Sukan Sarawak (SUKSAR) and tournaments in Kuantan and Kedah, including one where she broke her own record. She had also been training since last year and had won several smaller tournaments.
But SUKMA was different.
For the 14-year-old, representing Sarawak on a stage where the attention was suddenly much bigger brought a different kind of pressure, one she now knows must become part of her preparation.
Ceria also looked inward after the competition, admitting she felt she could have taken her sport more seriously despite the work she had already put in.
Yet she was clear about one thing: she would not blame her coach, teammates or anyone else for what happened.
Instead, she accepted the result as hers to learn from.
A promise still waiting
More importantly, she wanted Sarawakians to know that the three failed attempts did not tell the whole story.
Behind them were months of training, repeated sessions and the work that went unseen before she ever stepped onto the platform.
“I gave my best and gave everything I had. There was a lot of training behind the scenes, and I want the people of Sarawak to know that I really did my best,” she said.
Her first thought after leaving the platform was not about the scoreboard. It was about her parents.
Ceria had promised them she would bring home a medal from her first SUKMA, and after stepping off the platform, they were the people she wanted most to see and to hug and cry with after the disappointment.
“I promised my parents that I would bring home a medal for them this year, but perhaps my opportunity was not there,” she said.
Looking towards the next SUKMA
It is a promise she has no intention of abandoning.
Ceria will be 16 at the next SUKMA, giving her two years to work on the part of her game she discovered she needed most – not just her technique, but her composure.
She plans to continue balancing her studies with weightlifting, setting aside two to three hours each day for training.
For her, the next two years are now about turning the painful lesson of her first SUKMA into preparation for the next one.
“I will continue training for the next SUKMA. I will bring home a medal next time,” she said.
Meanwhile, the women’s 48kg category was won by Perak’s Qistina Qharisya, while Nur Arissya Nadia claimed silver and Nur Dania Nasyiha took bronze.
