Angela Lee is known for her prowess in the ONE Championship, and Bianca Bustamante is keen to make an impact in her professional racing debut in Asia at the W Series race during the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.
But before that, both the female athletes had the opportunity to trade the basics of their sports in a power vs speed meetup at Evolve MMA on 26 Sept afternoon. Bustamante entered the cage to learn martial arts from the atomweight queen, while Lee went on to the simulator to experience the rush of racing.
Lee showed the young Filipino racer several moves and techniques of mixed martial arts, including a chokehold, which she allowed Bustamante to try it on her.
The ONE Championship mixed martial artist also took time to give words of advice to the 17-year-old, who might also be feeling the jitters as she is racing in front of her parents for the first time in her career.
“Being young in the industry has its pro’s and con’s, there is a lot of weight on your shoulders. The hardest part is believing in yourself. Prove to everybody that believes in you,” said Lee.
“At the same time is to gain that self-confidence, and overcoming that self-doubt. I believe that I am meant to be a world champion and she believes she is a world champion. I am sure her time is coming.
Listening attentively to what Lee had to say, Bustamante acknowledged the need to perform but understood that sometimes results might not necessarily favour oneself.
“As a young athlete I felt so much pressure on me. The past six months I had to grow and mature a lot. People are so afraid to fail and that hinders me, and I have learnt to accept that people learn through failure. You come back stronger and that is so amazing to watch,” said Bustamante.
Lee will be up against Xiong Jing Nan (China) in the Strawweight World Championship match on Saturday, 1 Oct at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. With the home crowd behind her, Lee will definitely be feeling pumped up to snatch the title from her opponent.
As for Bustamante, she is eager to start her first race in this part of the world, having raced in Europe and USA in 2022. Prior to her coming to Singapore, she made a stopover in Malaysia, where she had a two-day test session under the guidance of former F1 driver Alex Yoong.
The W Series practice session will be on Friday, 30 Sept from 7.45pm. The qualifying session is on the following day at 4.45pm and the W Series Race will be held on Sunday, 2 Oct at the same time.
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