Taekwondo champ flies high with father's emotional support

National taekwondo athlete Diyanah Aqidah Muhammad Dian Khudhairi, 26, aims a series of flying kicks just in front of her father's face as the camera clicks.

- Stephanie Yeo

Caught in mid-air, she seems to defy gravity.

Mr Muhammad Dian Khudhairi Mohamed Ali, 52, stands still, not flinching at all as she runs and leaps at him in another pose.

The football and silat player gamely poses as Diyanah choreographs yet another angle for the photo shoot.

"You need to teach me," he coaxes, as she tries to explain how she wants him to place his hands.

"This is the easiest one, papa," says Diyanah, who clinched silver and bronze medals at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

Their easy banter is a reflection of their close relationship. But it was not always like this.

Her parents' divorce when she was aged six and her brother just a year younger meant Diyanah spent most of her childhood without her father.

After the split, her mother moved them into their maternal grandmother's flat in Sengkang, and Diyanah saw her father only during the occasional extended family gathering.

Thanks to his stern demeanour, she and her brother used to see their father as "a scary guy whenever he comes, it means he will scold us".