MMA: Jiu-jitsu champion Constance Lien reinvigorated, ready to resume trophy hunt

SINGAPORE – When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, jiu-jitsu exponent Constance Lien’s dreams of getting a second world title were put on hold as this year’s World Jiu-Jitsu Championships were postponed indefinitely.

The 21-year-old’s training regimen was also severely impacted because like many other athletes, she could only train from home during the circuit breaker and was left to plan her own strength and conditioning workouts.

She also grappled with the uncertainties over what lay ahead.

“I’ve always been on the fast lane. I know my goals and work hard for them but the whole coronavirus thing forced everything to pause,” said Lien, who is the reigning Straits Times Athlete of the Year thanks to her clinching blue belt featherweight Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) world champion and SEA Games jiu-jitsu gold last year.

After such heights came introspection. In February, she said she wanted to channel her energy towards social issues like tackling mental health. She has also been involved in projects to raise funds for migrant workers.

“It was tough but I learnt to adapt and have grown so much as an athlete. I took my training into my own hands and did more research on the type of training I could do,” she said.

“I’ve also connected with lots of people and have been helping people by talking about my experiences. That’s what kept me going because I knew that people are going through it.”

In April, her sporting ambitions were boosted as she became the first jiu-jitsu exponent to receive the Singapore Sports Institute’s Sports Excellence Scholarship. It offers monthly stipends of between $1,200 and $8,400 and support in areas like sports science and nutrition.

On Tuesday, she and brothers Noah and Paul Lim were selected as part of the Evolve Future World Champions Program started by Singapore-based gym Evolve MMA. It covers the cost of training, competition, travel as well as gym fees that can come up to about $3,000 annually.

Wesley De Souza, vice-president at Evolve MMA, said: “We’re always looking for ways to support the martial arts community through the creation of platforms that allow us to groom and grow martial arts in Singapore and throughout Asia.

“I’m excited to see how the program can help these talented athletes along their martial arts journey.”

For Lien, who ultimately hopes to become a black belt world champion, the financial backing helps. She has spent over $22,000 on training costs, competitions and equipment over the past four years.

She spent about $10,000 to participate in last year’s World Championships in Los Angeles while equipment like the gi she wears can be over $200.

She said: “I feel like this program paves my future plans in a way because there’s a certainty to it as I’m given the support to continue this sport for a long time.”

Under Sport Singapore’s Phase 2 guidelines, grappling – a key facet in BJJ – is not allowed during training. Lien therefore spends most of her time on strength and conditioning, and BJJ-oriented training on dummies at least once a day.

It is a similar situation for the Lim siblings. They were preparing for the World Championships and are now unsure when their next tournament will be.

Both impressed on their SEA Games debuts last year with Noah, 18, winning gold in the men’s 62kg final and Paul, 22, clinching bronze in the 69kg category.

They hope to compete at next year’s edition in Vietnam although jiu-jitsu has not been confirmed as part of the line-up, the 2022 Asian Games and annual Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Noah, a student at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), said: “I have very long-term goals so the SEA Games was definitely nice to win but we definitely have bigger goals in the future. Maybe we’ll change weight classes next year so hopefully, that will be a bigger challenge.”

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