Singapore's Nazri Sutari overcomes Montenegro’s Vukcevic Iljia to win first gold medal in the ring, and third gold overall in his career
Singapore, 23 October 2023 – One year after earning a historic bronze in the ring, Nazri Sutari surpassed this previous feat in a familiar location, Tešanj, located in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The Balkan Open is one of the largest competitions in the Balkan Peninsula. The 2023 edition, held on 20 to 22 October saw an increase by 10 per cent from
the previous year to nearly 500 athletes.
A nail-biting final against Montenegro’s Vukcevic Iljia saw Nazri fight neck and neck up to the wire. Nazri dominated the first round with a 3:0 lead, through a convincing performance. In the second round, Iljia’s strikes proved to be the sharper of the two kickboxers, which saw Nazri’s lead overturned to 2:1 in Iljia’s favour. Though exhausted, Nazri dug deep into the final third round, fighting not against his opponent, but himself.
Nazri recalls the third round vividly, “During that final round, I was exhausted by then. I knew I was losing at the beginning of the third round. It’s quite hard to regain the lead because you’ve got to work twice as hard to bring all those points back to your advantage. I actually thought, “This is it... I’ve lost”. Then I remembered my final at the Flanders International Cup a month ago. It was a similar situation where I was trailing by a thin margin, and I pushed on, fighting on till the end to secure the win.”
Nazri continues, “It was kind of a battle against myself. That memory drove me to push past my negative thoughts. It gave me a second wind. During that last round I focused purely on outscoring my opponent. At the end of round, I was unbelievably happy when the referee raised my hand as the victor. Winning Singapore’s first gold in the ring
is an achievement I will cherish.”
At the end of the final round, the score was 1:0 in Nazri’s favour. A journey more than 4 years in the making, Nazri achieved his dream of clinching Singapore’s first gold medal in the ring.
President of Kickboxing Federation of Singapore (KFS) Jason Lim lauded Nazri’s accomplishment, “I’m extremely happy with Nazri’s result. It’s an achievement that underscores what you can attain with perseverance and grit. This is his seventh international competition in the ring and he’s finally got his first gold. I’m glad he stayed the path
and kept on fighting both literally and figuratively.”
Coach Aleksandar Topic shares, “It was a thrilling performance and I am very happy that Nazri pushed till the end. When you know that you are losing, it can be a struggle to fight against it because negativity can set in. But in kickboxing, there’s always a possibility of winning no matter the score. You could win by technical knockout with just one good shot. For now, we’ll rest a few days before getting the engines running again for his biggest competition, which is the world championship in a months’ time.”
On his historic achievement, Nazri shares, “I'm really happy that I have achieved this milestone as it is one of my performance goals in preparation for Portugal. With this competition done and dusted, I know where I stand now and what I need to do to adjust and fine-tune to perform my best in Portugal.
Nazri will continue his training and preparations in Serbia before leaving for Portugal on 17th November for the World Championships.