The Malaysian Insight

PETITE and wearing the Muslim headscarf, the last thing anyone would expect Nor Phoenix Diana to be is a wrestler.

However, the 19-year-old isn’t just taking on opponents in the ring – she is also going against Muslim conservatives who are giving her flak.

Standing at 155cm, Nor Phoenix, who asked to be known by her ring name to protect her identity, aims to wrestle internationally but admitted that criticism against her is hampering her progress.

The only thing she can do, she told The Malaysian Insight, is to channel the criticism into energy to keep on going.

“I can’t make everyone happy,” she said.

Nor Phoenix, who works as a clinic assistant at a private hospital by day, drew the attention of social media users as well as news wire agencies after winning a tournament earlier this month, the Wrestlecon championship in Kuala Lumpur.

Fans on social media described her trademark as the ability to swiftly fling herself at her opponents from the corner of the ring.

She had also wrestled against and beaten male opponents.

The criticism came quickly, both on social media and in private messages, with detractors saying a woman in hijab should not engage in such a sport.

“They say wrestling is not a good sport for a Muslim woman, that a real Muslim woman would never do such a thing.

“But what I’m doing is my own right.

“There are also those who said I should stop wearing the hijab if I want to wrestle. But for me, as a Muslim, the hijab is a must and my responsibility,” she said.

While she won’t give up her hijab, she also does not want to be known for it.

Nor Phoenix, who took up wrestling in 2015, said she hopes to be known for her talent and not because she wore the Muslim headscarf.

“Right now, I may be known as the first woman wrestler to wear the hijab, but I don’t want people to miss my talent,” she said, adding that her dream was to make professional wrestling her permanent career.

She said she has since received many invitations to join competitions abroad and hoped that she could make Malaysia proud. – July 21, 2019.