 Lachkar in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Basma Lachkar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 March 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Jerudong International School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Martial artist, athlete | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wushu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Taijijian and Taijiquan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Brunei Wushu Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Li Hui | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Basma Lachkar (born 25 March 2003) is a Bruneian wushu athlete of Moroccan descent specializing in tai chi. [1]
Lachkar was born to a Moroccan father and Bruneian mother. She attended Chung Hwa Middle School taking up wushu initially as a school co-curricular activity to join her brother, Walid Lachkar. [2] In October 2022, Hajah Rosnah binti Awang Tengah, her mother, passed away. [3] Notably, she graduated Jerudong International School (JIS) in class 2022, [4] and Sports School from 2016 to 2019. [5] [6]
Lachkar would eventually become part of Brunei's wushu national team which has been under Chinese coach Li Hui since 2006. [7] In the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on 22 August 2017, she became victorious in the Women's Compulsory Taijiquan finals of the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with a score of 9.54 points. [8] She is 1.6 meters tall in 2023. She hasn't become much taller since 2018, the year she participated in her maiden Asian Games as a 15-year-old. [9] She did not clinch a podium finish in her usual tai chi event due to inexperience. [10]
Lachkar was part of the first group from Brunei to travel to the 19th Sukma Games 2018, which took place from 12 to 22 September in Perak. [11] On 30 November 2019, in the Philippines, she had the honor of carrying the Brunei flag at the 30th SEA Games opening ceremony. [12] In the women's taijiquan event, Lachkar, the youngest competitor in her division, won silver for the second time in a row at the SEA Games with a score of 9.55. [13] [14]
Competing in the tai chi event, Lachkar would set several milestones for her country's national wushu program. At the 2022 World Games in Birmingham in the United States, she would win the first ever gold medal for Brunei in the tournament. [15] [16] With a total score of 19.040 points, she placed first on the podium in the women's combined taijiquan and taijijian event. [17]
In the following 2022 edition in Huangzhou, Lachkar would see success when she bagged Brunei's first ever Asian Games silver medalist in any sports. [2] [18] She is the Asian Games' flag bearer for Brunei as well. She achieved 9.756 points for a total of 19.502, which was sufficient for a silver medal. Additionally, it was her nation's first medal at the Asian Games since Tong Kit Siong in 2002. [9]
In the women's taijijian competition at the World University Games, Lachkar came in second. Silver was hers when she scored a total of 9.680 points at the Chengbei Gymnasium in Chengdu. [19] From this, she also became the first recipient of Brunei's special sports scholarship program. [6]
Following her victory in the Women's Optional Taijijian event at the 2024 University Wushu Championship in Harbin, China, Basma has continued to shine on the global scene. She beat Japan's Hibiki Isono, who scored 9.5003, to take first place with a score of 9.510 after her performance. [20]
A road at Kampong Pulaie Sports School would officially be renamed Basma Drive in November 2023. [6]
For the 2023 World Games Athlete of the Year, Basma has received a nomination. This comes after she won the women's taijiquan and taijijian combined event in the World Games 2022. [21]
Sport in Brunei covers the variety of sports that are played, from amateur to professional levels, across the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, in addition to individuals and teams who are sent to compete in tournaments both home and abroad. Association football is the most popular sport played in Brunei. Several sports, along with leisure activities are also partaken in Brunei; from badminton and swimming to horseback riding, mountain biking, and paintball.
Jerudong International School is a co-educational, boarding and day school in Brunei, Southeast Asia. It has over 1680 students - of which around 200 are boarding students. Less than 50% of its student body are Bruneians, with the remainder fulfilled by students from 55 countries. Jerudong International School first opened its doors for primary education in January 1997 and subsequently for secondary in October of the same year. JIS offers a British International education.
The World Wushu Championships (WWC) is an international sports championship hosted by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) for the sports of wushu taolu and sanda (sanshou). It has been held biennially since 1991 and is the pinnacle event of the IWUF. The World Wushu Championships also coincides with the IWUF Congress as well as with various committee meetings. This competition additionally serves as the qualification event for the Taolu World Cup and the Sanda World Cup.
Hei Zhihong is a retired competitive wushu athlete from Hong Kong.
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Wushu at the 2016 South Asian Games were held in Guwahati, India from 10 to 15 February 2016.
Ng Shin Yii was a Malaysian wushu athlete. She retired at age 27 from international wushu after competing at the World Taijiquan Championships in Poland. She competed in the Taijiquan and Taijijian taolu events. Up until her retirement in 2016, she had represented Malaysia in every World Wushu Championships since 2009, winning one silver and one bronze in the 2009 and 2015 Championships respectively. She competed in the first two World Taijiquan Championships in Dujiangyan and Warsaw achieving three silver medals. At the age of 17, she won a bronze medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Dương Thúy Vi is a wushu taolu athlete from Vietnam. She is one of the most renowned wushu athletes of all time, having won numerous medals at the World Wushu Championships, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games, and the Asian Wushu Championships.
Maizurah binti Abdul Rahim is a Bruneian sprinter whom competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the women's 200 metres. Notably, she was also the flag bearer for Brunei in the closing ceremony.
Brunei Darussalam participated in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia from 18 August to 2 September 2018. The contingent comprises 15 athletes and 16 officials led by Umi Kalthum binti Haji Abdul Karim as the Chef de Mission. Brunei wushu star Basma Lachkar was given the honor to be the country’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony.
Agatha Chrystenzen Fernandez Wong is a Filipino wushu athlete who has won medals for the Philippines at the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, and the World Wushu Championships.
The men's taijiquan / taijijian all-around competition at the 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament was held from August 21 to 22 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.
Wu Yanan is a retired Chinese wushu taolu and taijiquan athlete of Hui ethnicity.
Chai Fong Ying is a former wushu taolu and taijiquan athlete from Malaysia. She was a three-time world champion and a double gold medalist at the Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games. She also won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament.
Ai Uchida, previously known as Ai Miyaoka, is a former wushu taolu and taijiquan athlete from Japan. She was a multiple-time medalist at the World Wushu Championships and the Asian Games, and also won the bronze medal in women's taijiquan at the 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament. She is Japan's most renowned wushu athlete at the Asian Games.
Cui Wenjuan is a retired wushu taolu athlete and member of the People's Liberation Army.
Li Fai is a retired professional wushu taolu athlete from Hong Kong. She was a four-time world champion and was a medalist at the Asian Games and the East Asian Games.
Tomohiro Araya is a taijiquan athlete from Japan.
Brunei competed at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, which was held from 23 September 2023 to 8 October 2023. The delegation had 21 members, 11 of which were athletes and the rest were officials.
Hosea Wong Zheng Yu is a Bruneian wushu athlete of Chinese descent specialising in tai chi.
