'Choke Clinch Crank Combat': A love letter to the combat sports community in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Behind every martial arts athlete's career is a drama-filled journey of triumphs, defeats and self-improvements along the way.

Amid the blood, sweat and tears, there is usually a strong camaraderie among the combat sports community as the fighters support one another through their arduous trainings.

And a new book titled "Choke Clinch Crank Combat" - a collection of interviews and photos of 25 Singapore-based martial arts athletes' journeys through their sports - celebrates the spirit of the growing community through their unique stories.

Author Andrea Yew - a combat sports enthusiast herself - calls it a passion project to tell the stories in the local community, with the idea being first conceived six years ago.

Together with her team - Alvin Ang (co-writer), Astrini Alias (creative director/graphic designer), Khairul Selamat (photographer), Uzair Jaafar (marketing manager), Mohammed Raziq (graphic and web designer) and Suffian Hakim (editor) - they set about finding the athletes to feature in the book from around 2019.

"We've always talk about how this book is really our love letter to the combat community," Yew told Yahoo Southeast Asia earlier this month.

"What's important is that the athletes trust us with their stories. They shared very vulnerable and personal things, and there's always a moment in some of the interviews when you realised that this is not about writing a book anymore. Instead, you would feel that you're privileged to witness a deeply personal account.

"So we wanted to make sure that whatever we wrote was accurate, was representative of their stories. We transcribed the interviews ourselves; we wanted people to pick up this book, and can hear their stories through their voices."

Hopes of inspiring others through their stories

In choosing the athletes for "Choke Clinch Crank Combat", the authors cast their nets as wide as they could. Yew and Ang were avid combat sports athletes themselves, and were able to tap on their network of athletes, coaches, mentors, event organisers and, more importantly, enthusiasts just like themselves to recount their journeys.

For many of those interviewed for the book, they wanted their stories to be told so that their experiences can be sparks of inspirations for others to follow down the path of martial arts and combat sports.

For professional boxer Amanda Chan - who currently holds the WBC Asia women's featherweight title belt with a 7-0 win-loss record - she had been inspired to pick up combat sports from reading urban fantasy books which had strong women characters fighting against evil.

"They were a good inspiration for me to fend for myself and not have to worry about walking down the streets at night," said the Juggernaut Fight Club instructor, who said in the book that she has had young women telling her that they want to do what she does.

"We choose to fight because it gives us toughness, it keeps us healthy, and it gives us a great sense of self-esteem and confidence."

For martial arts athlete Jed Foo, every time he steps into the fighting ring, it is a statement of accomplishment that he is able to overcome being visually handicapped.

The 28-year-old was born with aniridia, a condition in which both his irises are absent and his retinas not fully formed, which affects his ability to see objects from a distance. Yet his condition has not deterred him from taking part in combat sports and being an accomplished athlete in muay thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Foo is also a mental toughness coach for youths, and he said he wants his life story to inspire others to overcome their handicaps.

"Martial arts has so much more to offer than just purely physical exercise, you really instil certain values such as discipline and humility," he said.

"I really hope that, through the stories of myself and others in the book, people can get inspired, like 'if this guy can do it, why can't I?' I think the book showcases the fact that people can actually do so much more than they believe they could."

Professional mixed martial arts fighter Royston Wee - the only Singaporean to have fought in the elite Ultimate Fighting Championship - believes the martial arts world is full of dramatic and emotional stories to tell.

"I started out as a young kid trying to improve my fitness and pick up some combat skills. Then I got inspired and dreamed big, and eventually fulfilled my dream. I think that would be something worth writing about," he said.

Panel session at Singapore Writers Festival

"Choke Clinch Crank Combat" is one of the literatures being featured at the upcoming Singapore Writers Festival, which will be held from 17 to 26 November at various locations.

Yew and Ang will be joined by Chan, Foo and Wee in a panel session titled "Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Writing the Combat Sports Narrative" at The Arts House on Saturday (18 November), when they will talk about how the book narrates the triumphs and loss of the martial arts athletes.

Compiling the stories after sifting through hundreds of hours of interviews as well as photographs, it is no wonder Yew and Ang call their book a labour of love, as they painstakingly crafted the book to portray the Singapore combat sports scene as accurately as possible.

"Martial arts really transcends all cultures and it was something we really wanted to highlight," Ang said.

"The best fighters in the world, like Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, are transcendent because they reveal the personalities through their fights. We hope to also peel back and reveal the personalities behind the athletes in the book, let their true faces shine through."

Yew also hopes that readers can also see another side of the Singapore society, away from the conventional notion of Singaporeans being ultra-pragmatic.

"The combat sports community illustrates the best aspects of the human spirit," she quipped. "It's about grit. It's about overcoming obstacles. It's about choosing to pursue your dream, even when everybody tells you is a terrible idea - just like this book.

"And when people think about Singapore, we also want them to think about all the voices that makes up our larger stories as well."

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