If Jack is the master of all trades, Maslina Ismail has to be the ‘Jill, the master of all sports’. Coming in from her success in last year’s X45 Challenge, Maslina will be participating in the team event, which consists of one woman and two men at X45 this weekend in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Taking place over 2 days, the X45 Challenge established itself as the biggest competition in Malaysia in 2014, hosting athletes from Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Maslina will be representing CrossFit Vidatha, from Kuala Lumpur which will be sending five individuals and two teams for the X45 Challenge. The workout is the same as the Open category, but the number of repetitions for each men and woman has already been pre-determined.

“Ladies first”, might not always be a good thing, as the pressure will be on Maslina, because the women takes their turn first. If she fails to complete her part, the men will not be able to take part in the competition. And Maslina will be fighting on despite having a broken finger which has not fully recovered.

In the team event, points are accumulated for each team member’s achievement in the various disciplines and the prize will be awarded after the second day of competition.

“It’s me against myself”

Maslina kept this mantra in mind, to push herself over her rivals, despite having a broken finger.

Recently, Maslina participated in the Pushmore Weightlifting competition in Petaling Jaya, and swept most if not all of the prizes, with a rather crooked and recovering finger. Maslina snatched 57kg at first, and further attempted with 58kg and 62kg, far from her personal best, but she still won best clean and jerk, best snatch and best overall.

Weightlifting enhances SEA Games Rubgy experience

Earlier in June, Maslina represented Malaysian in the Women’s Rugby Sevens team at the Singapore SEA Games 2015, and felt her finger dislocate as an opponent crashed into her. Unlike over-dramatic footballers, Maslina continued playing until half time, when her finger was strapped by the Team Doctor and she continued playing till the end. That’s #tough!

SEA Games was a good experience for Maslina and the team, KL Tigers learned to communicate better with each other. This will enhance their team work in the next competitions in Miri and Bali in the coming months.

Across time, weightlifting has helped Maslina in building up her strength and confidence in Rugby, especially when she has to charge full speed ahead into her opponents.

Besides CrossFit and Rugby which already takes up most of her time, Maslina also cycles on her roadbike and runs as cross-training. If that doesn’t make you Xena, Princess of Warrior, I don’t know what will.

For more info on the X45 challenge, follow them on Facebook.