MOHAMMAD Sulaiman and Melvynna Tambunan were the first brave souls to don our national colours at an international wrestling competition when they took part in the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships in Pattaya.

Why "brave"?

First of all, the Asian Wrestling Championships are not just any competition, and definitely not one where beginners would choose to make their debut.

It features countries like Iran, Japan, Korea and Kazakhstan - countries with both history and accomplishment in the sport.

Like the European Wrestling Championships held last month, the Asian installment of the competition is one of the biggest events in wrestling.

Both Melvynna and Sulaiman may be established judokas, but they both started dabbling in wrestling only early this year when the Wrestling Federation of Singapore (WFS) was being set up.

National wrestlers Melvynna Tambunan (left) and Mohammad Sulaiman
ST PHOTO: JOYCE LIM

Their first opponents outside of the local wrestling community are not amateurs like themselves.

Melvynna, for instance, was drawn against Tatyana Bakatyuk of Kazakhstan, who finished fifth at the Beijing Olympics. Melvynna was trounced 0-7, 0-7. The fight in the under-51kg didn't even have to go into the third and last period.

Even though she later received a lifeline through the repechage rule and found herself up against China's Zeng Qingping for a bronze medal, that match too went down 0-6, 0-7 - again without Melvynna picking up any points.

Sulaiman faced a similar fate, crashing 0-2, 0-7 to Iraq's Majeed Husham in the first round of the under-74kg free style competition.

Being the older ones in the national team, the duo were given the responsibility of being the firsts to venture out into regional competition.

They face not only the nerves of taking part in their first wrestling competition, or the jitters of donning national colours for the first time.

They shoulder the heavy burden of tasting for themselves the high standards of wrestling in countries just within Asia itself, then returning with the experience to lead the rest of the budding team with.

When I spoke with them last week, they appeared relaxed.

Neither expected anything big out of the outing, except to just gain some real competition experience. The night before her fight, however, Melvynna found herself losing sleep.

So what if neither of our wrestlers achieved anything tangible out of the competition? True, they did not even manage to take one point out of each of their fights; but, dare I ask, is that what matters at this point?

I hand it to the duo for their courage in taking on this mission.

They lead not only themselves, but also their like-minded teammates who wait eagerly to hear about their experience fighting with the world's very best.

And if the WFS, with its bold ambitions of becoming a regional center of excellence in South-east Asia, comes to pass, they will be leading a nation's growth in a sport.

So, take a bow, Melvynna and Sulaiman.

Singapore national wrestling coach Sergei Beloglazov from Russia (centre) with two national wrestlers, Melvynna Tambunan (right) and Mohammad Sulaiman.
ST PHOTO: JOYCE LIM