Abygail Theresa, a Steel-Minded Karateka Like Ayumi Uekusa!

Abygail Theresa, an 18-year-old woman, has been in the Indonesian karate world for quite some time. Her journey began when her mother, who was also a karateka, invited Aby — her nickname — to follow in her footsteps.

Inri Kaseger, Abygail’s mother, has a big name in Indonesian karate. She is a former karate athlete from North Sulawesi who has represented Indonesia in several World Karate Championships.

Abygail reminisces about the first time she was introduced to karate. She hadn’t even started school yet when it happened. At first, Aby wasn’t interested in karate because she thought it was a tiring activity.

“At first, I didn’t want to do it because sports can be tiring. But my mom supported me, ‘try it, By. Train first, maybe you’ll become a champion.’ After training and winning, I fell in love with karate,” Aby said.

Falling in Love for the First Time

Being a karateka was not Aby’s childhood dream. She revealed that she was always scared every time she had to go to practice. To her, being a karateka didn’t yield anything back then.

“It was tough when I was a kid. I didn’t enjoy training, and it made me nervous. At the time, I didn’t like it, like ‘what is this?’. There were no achievements yet, I was just following along,” she recalled.

But the fear vanished once Aby saw the results of her hard work during practice. She won her first title at the Karate Minut Open 2018 tournament, where she finished third.

“I fell in love with karate when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I was about to compete at the time. Then my mom said, ‘train first, don’t do this and that.’ So, I showed up every day. And it paid off,” Aby explained.

Admiring Japanese Karateka, Ayumi Uekusa

Having a large body makes Aby often compete in the Kumite +68Kg fighter class. She admitted that her body is one of her obstacles in pursuing karate.

But she learned from her idol, international karateka Ayumi Uekusa. She admires Ayumi, who has a big body but can move quickly. Aby uses this similarity as her spirit booster.

“She’s cool. Even though she has a big body, she’s fast. So I’m motivated to play faster. Because in Kumite, there are many classes. Ayumi is in the +68 class, but she can be as fast as -61. So, she motivates me to play faster,” Aby said.

Not only technically, but Aby also admires Ayumi’s steel-mindedness. She clearly remembers when her idol was able to achieve a proud accomplishment despite suffering from injuries.

“I saw her posting a photo of her winning first place, but her teeth were missing. That means she got hit. Her mental state was good, even though her mouth was shattered. She still fought and won first place,” Aby said.

“If it were me, I could be disqualified, or I wouldn’t participate. But she did it, so it was cool. You can stop if you want, but then you’d be ashamed,” she continued.

Sharpened Mental Game

When it comes to mental toughness, Aby is not playing around. Despite facing mental setbacks, she has managed to achieve great things. A prime example of this was during a series of tournaments in 2022.

In October of that year, Aby competed in the National Karate Championship held in Padang. She managed to secure the third-place trophy, but unfortunately lost and had to let go of that achievement.

“It was painful, you know? Losing like that, at the very end. I was so close to getting the third-place title,” Aby reminisced.

Here, her mother played a crucial role. She helped Aby refocus for the upcoming tournament, the Porprov Bolmong, held in November 2022. Despite facing mental hurdles, Aby emerged as the first-place champion.

“My mom said, ‘Join Porprov Bolmong, By. Focus again.’ So, I trained. Even though my mental state was still recovering from the previous tournament, I managed to become the first-place champion,” she continued.

Aby wants to continue pursuing her career in karate. Let’s support Aby in developing her career with NYXS. You can download the NYXS app on the Play Store and App Store.

Abygail Theresa’s achievements:

• Two-time champion of the Provincial Sports Week (Porprov)