Aurora Chai

“Choosing Curtin Malaysia wasn’t a difficult decision as I wanted to follow my brother’s footsteps to this university. Furthermore, Curtin is a renowned Australian university and offers courses that are recognised by the Malaysian government, as well as double-accredited by professional bodies both in Australia and Malaysia. I joined the Foundation in Commerce programme in 2018 and now I’m in my first year in BComm Marketing and Management.

“University life is totally different from secondary school in terms of studies and attire. Such things are less stringent in uni, but you nevertheless have to be disciplined when it comes to attending lectures and tutorials, and submitting assignments on time to avoid points and marks getting docked.

“Sports has been my passion since my primary school years. I represented my school and Miri Division in the inter-school and inter-divisional sports meets respectively during my secondary school years. I took up karate when I was 10 and won quite a number of gold medals in the Kata and Kumite categories.

“In 2013, I traded karate for kickboxing/mixed martial arts (MMA) and Muay Thai and won my first bout in Kota Kinabalu in December that year. Some of the major titles I’ve won are a gold medal at SUKMA 2018, Kick Boxing Belt 2016, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu 2015, Sabah Fight 2016, TYT 2016 and Borneo Cup 2017. At age 16, I qualified as a Ring Sports and Mixed Martial Arts License C Referee under the International Sports Kickboxing Association.

“Muay Thai/MMA is a beautiful extreme sport but having said that, one must be very passionate, resilient and disciplined to go far in the sport. I have gone through lots of tough training and suffered numerous bruises and excruciating pain. You have to be able to take all the hard knocks, kicks and punches in order to taste victory.” –Aurora Chai, Marketing & Management student