SINGAPORE: A
young Singaporean is hoping her fast hands and feet can strike a blow
for Asian women when she joins the region's tiny ranks of female
cage-fighters next month.
Sherilyn Lim is polite and pretty but beyond that, the stereotypes crumble as the 23-year-old sweats through a tough routine in a small, downtown gym.
Lim, who first took up martial arts to lose weight, aims fists and elbows at a punching-bag before hitting the ring to fire jabs at a trainer.
Then she drops to the floor, straddles a prone bag and grimly pummels it with her knuckles and forearms, pretending it's an opponent.
Beaded with sweat and with a large tattoo across her back, Lim is training up to seven hours a day ahead of her debut in mixed martial arts (MMA), or cage-fighting.
She will take on another Asian debutante, Malaysia's Ann 'Athena' Osman, in Singapore on October 18 in a One Fighting Championship (One FC) promotion stacked with male fighters.
Anything-goes displays of kicking, punching and wrestling between two combatants locked in a cage is certainly not a traditional pursuit for Asian women.
But Lim, plucked from obscurity for the fight, says her appearance could be empowering for others like her.
Outside of Japan, which already has a presence in MMA, few Asian women have ventured into the cage. In many parts of the region, attitudes are conservative.
But Lim says her fight against Osman shows that women in Asia can do more than is sometimes assumed. (AFP)
Sherilyn Lim is polite and pretty but beyond that, the stereotypes crumble as the 23-year-old sweats through a tough routine in a small, downtown gym.
Lim, who first took up martial arts to lose weight, aims fists and elbows at a punching-bag before hitting the ring to fire jabs at a trainer.
Then she drops to the floor, straddles a prone bag and grimly pummels it with her knuckles and forearms, pretending it's an opponent.
Beaded with sweat and with a large tattoo across her back, Lim is training up to seven hours a day ahead of her debut in mixed martial arts (MMA), or cage-fighting.
She will take on another Asian debutante, Malaysia's Ann 'Athena' Osman, in Singapore on October 18 in a One Fighting Championship (One FC) promotion stacked with male fighters.
Anything-goes displays of kicking, punching and wrestling between two combatants locked in a cage is certainly not a traditional pursuit for Asian women.
But Lim, plucked from obscurity for the fight, says her appearance could be empowering for others like her.
Outside of Japan, which already has a presence in MMA, few Asian women have ventured into the cage. In many parts of the region, attitudes are conservative.
But Lim says her fight against Osman shows that women in Asia can do more than is sometimes assumed. (AFP)
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