Finishing the tournament as Asia's number 1 with two medals, Valencia also climbed three spots to world number 6 in the world rankings.
Italy, 25 March 2024 – The second edition of the Italian World cup in Jesolo, Italy, saw nearly 1,500 athletes from 43 countries over the 5-day tournament, a whopping 36% increase from the inaugural event in 2023. The increased participation was felt not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of the competition intensity and quality of competitors.
Singapore's Valencia Yip settled for silver in the Musical Forms (MF) category, falling 0.1 point short of the gold which went to world number four, Hungary’s Fanni Udvarhelyi. The same 0.1 margin would haunt her performance in the Creative Form (CF) category, where she lost narrowly to world number 2, Cintia Halustyik and world number 5, Germany’s Cora Reuttinger, who won the gold and silver respectively. Valencia would go on to claim the bronze in the CF category.
In the hall filled with more than 3,000 people, Valencia was initially left in tears and was comforted by her coach, Brian Beck.
“It was really crushing to know I was so close to winning golds in both categories. I was really really heartbroken. I held it in all the way until the competition was over before I allowed myself to let the emotions flow," she recalls.
"Could I have done better to bring up my score by 0.1? Maybe yes, maybe no. Though I’m disappointed, I tell myself that I’m competing against athletes who’ve been training all their lives. Me, I’ve only trained for a year. So to be just 0.1 point behind these top athletes, I know I’m almost there, I know I’m catching up to them. I’m going to take in all these disappointments to spur me on to train harder and do better at my next competition.”
It wasn't all doom and gloom though, as Valencia beamed with pride when she found out that she was the first overall Singaporean and Southeast Asian female to clinch Asia’s number one spot in the Musical Forms (MF) division.
Valencia shares, “It’s an honour to achieve this for my country. One year ago if you asked me if I could achieve this, I would tell you no. I had doubts along the way, like whether I was good enough or whether I could win despite starting out at age 33. I’m really thankful to everyone who’s believed in me and supported me on this journey. Their belief in me has pushed me on.”
Kickboxing compatriots Abraham Oh and Alexavier Koh competed for the first time in the Senior category at a world cup. Abraham won two rounds in both his 63kg Light Contact and 63kg Kick Light category but was defeated in the quarter finals. Alexavier lost to his British opponent Ryan Evans in the 63kg Point Fighting category before sustaining an eye injury which forced him to pull out of his remaining two categories.
Kickboxing head coach Brian Beck shares, “I’m really happy with the performance of the team. For Valencia, she’s been training for a year and she’s really close to the world standard. With one more year of intensive training and competitions, I am positive she will become a world contender."
"She’s the only athlete I’ve trained so far that’s become top in the continent in such a short time. I am genuinely impressed. For the boys’ performance, they’re just stepping into the Senior category where the pace, technical ability and skills have all gone up from what they’re used to in the Junior category (ages 16 to 18). They’ll need some time to adjust, but at the same time, train and compete more so they can rise up to the exacting standards the Senior’s category demands.”
The team returns to Singapore on 26th March and will train for their next competition in May.