Dad's emotional support after her mum's death helps taekwondo champ fly high

National taekwondo athlete Diyanah Aqidah Muhammad Dian Khudhairi, 26, aims a series of flying kicks just in front of her father's face as the camera clicks.

Caught in mid-air, she seems to defy gravity.

Mr Muhammad Dian Khudhairi Mohamed Ali, 52, stands still, not flinching at all as she runs and leaps at him in another pose.

The football and silat player gamely poses as Diyanah choreographs yet another angle for the photo shoot.

"You need to teach me," he coaxes, as she tries to explain how she wants him to place his hands.

"This is the easiest one, papa," says Diyanah, who clinched silver and bronze medals at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

Their easy banter is a reflection of their close relationship. But it was not always like this.

Her parents' divorce when she was aged six and her brother just a year younger meant Diyanah spent most of her childhood without her father.

After the split, her mother moved them into their maternal grandmother's flat in Sengkang, and Diyanah saw her father only during the occasional extended family gathering.

Thanks to his stern demeanour, she and her brother used to see their father as "a scary guy - whenever he comes, it means he will scold us".

Her mother later remarried and divorced again. Mr Dian also remarried when Diyanah was nine years old and has another son, now aged 16.

Meanwhile, Diyanah discovered a love for taekwondo when she entered Edgefield Secondary School, which required all its students to learn the martial art.

At age 13, she won her first gold medal in an inter-school competition and got hooked, giving up her drama club co-curricular activities to focus solely on taekwondo. By Secondary 3, she made team captain.

She was just 16 when her mother, businesswoman Maslin Mashuri, then aged 40, suddenly died from an asthma attack in 2015, during one of the worst haze seasons that saw primary and secondary schools closing for a day.

Her late mum had then been getting their new flat in Changi Village ready, while Diyanah and her brother were still living with their grandmother.

Diyanah recalls: "I didn't really feel that my world was gone, but I felt I had to take care of my brother because it was only us."

Since her brother chose to continue living with their maternal grandmother, Mr Dian says he did not want to separate the siblings and move Diyanah to his home in Tampines.

He started spending weekends with them instead, taking them out for meals or to hang out at his mother's home in Pasir Ris.

"I wanted to make them feel that I would always be around for them," says Mr Dian, a senior lab technician, who chauffeurs Diyanah to training sessions whenever he can.

"I told them if they have problems, I will listen."

Even though his role then involved work trips overseas, he made it a point to drive up to Kuala Lumpur with his mother and Diyanah's brother to see her compete in the 2017 SEA Games.

Besides giving her advice on her competitions, he supported her sporting endeavours financially, as Diyanah's sport involves numerous training sessions and competitions overseas. The Singapore Taekwondo Federation also partially supported Diyanah's training and overseas trips from 2017 to 2023, and she took on part-time coaching work for additional income from 2021.

She was awarded the Singapore Sport Excellence Scholarship in 2024, which has eased the family's financial burden and allowed her to train for the 2025 SEA Games and 2026 Asian Games full time.

Diyanah will graduate with a degree in sports studies and marketing from the Singapore Institute of Management later in 2025.

She admits it was initially "awkward" to have her father more present in her life.

"But because I don't have my mum, I thought, what if I lose my dad one day? So, I eventually tried to spend more time with my dad and my family," she says. Having to train or compete overseas regularly has also taught her to treasure time with her loved ones.

Diyanah says she recognises how hard her father has worked to support his children and her dreams despite the upheavals they have gone through.

"I feel like he always keeps me in his prayers."