Frederick Irwin Anglican School year 12 student, Saskia Vaughan, has taken gold in the Muay Thai World Youth Championships 2016 in Bangkok.
Saskia, after defeating the highly competitive international field, said her ambition for Muay Thai was to be the best at the sport.
“I have many goals, winning gold being one of them, but I’m not done yet,” she said.
“I would like to think one day I could be fighting for a world title belt and would like to continue fighting all over the world.
“I am a very competitive person, but I feel like that is what drives me to succeed – I have always dreamed of representing my state and country in a sport that I love, and now I have done it and was able to achieve the highest possible.
The win comes on top of her win earlier in the year at the Australian National Youth Championships in Queensland where she placed first to score a spot on the Australian international team.
Saskia has fought in nine bouts during her year and a half long sporting career, winning eight.
Other notable successes include becoming the youngest female athlete in Western Australia on pro shows against women, as well as being the only female in WA to have the cleanest record (more wins than loses), in her division and across other divisions.
With Saskia’s next competition scheduled for early 2017, she said she was focusing on finishing school this year and having some down time after a challenging two years balancing both Muay Thai and school work.
“As I’ve just won gold some offers will definitely arise for title fights and fights on big cards, so I will definitely have to sit down with my trainer to discuss where we are going to go from here,” she said.
“To prepare for my next fight I will definitely be making a trip to Thailand in the early months of 2017 to gain some more experience and possibly fight over there.
“My trainer, Gavin Fuller from Gavs Gym in Bibra Lake, has also just brought over two new Thai trainers to prepare all of the gym’s fighters for our upcoming bouts.”
