Extensive body grappling allowed to resume in combat sports
Combat sports athletes and enthusiasts were given a boost yesterday after national sports agency Sport Singapore (SportSG) gave the green light for sports with extensive body grappling, such as wrestling and jiu-jitsu, to resume.
The news was music to the ears of jiu-jitsu exponent Noah Lim, with the 2019 SEA Games gold medallist excited to have more sparring opportunities ahead of next year's Games in Vietnam.
"I'm very happy to hear the announcement," Lim, 18, told The New Paper.
"Since the circuit breaker, I have been training only once a week with my brother, and that's not enough to maintain my level. But now I'm looking forward to increasing my training frequency as well as the quality of my training."
National team manager May Ooi added: "It is very positive news as the athletes have been frozen since April... Noah is in a fortunate position because he has a brother to spar with, that's better than going dry for months... athletes lose a lot of subtle skills when they don't spar regularly.
"At some point, you need that body contact to understand what it's really like to have someone smashing you or to be in danger, you don't want to mute those instincts... So this is a very timely and good news."
However, combat sports participants must adhere to safe management measures, such as keeping group size to a maximum of five.
Also, a participant is permitted to change groups only after the individual has observed a 14-day cooling period, during which he or she is not allowed to take part in prolonged contact sports with either the old or new group.
For the full advisory, visit www.sportsingapore.gov.sg.
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