Hyde Nathania Hijium was previously into track and field and even won medals for the school team before getting into the national taekwondo team. The 22-year-old is the eldest among three siblings and is currently studying civil engineering at Politeknik Brunei. She is the first Poomsae (artistic) athlete in Brunei and she took some time to talk to BruSports News about her journey so far.
Q: How did you get into taekwondo? It looks like your siblings are all into the sport as well?
A: Yes, my siblings and I are doing taekwondo together. I started doing taekwondo in 2007 when I was nine years old. Initially, I had no interest at all but my father is a big fan of martial arts so my parents sent us to a taekwondo club.
Q: If not taekwondo, which sport would you be doing?
A: I would go for wushu. Originally, my parents wanted to send us to wushu but back then they didn’t know the place where the team trains.
Q: What do you think is the best thing that has happened to you in taekwondo?
A: Being the first one selected for the national taekwondo Poomsae (artistic) team.
Taekwondo has been in Brunei for so many years but we never had a Poomsae team before, so being selected to be the first ones alongside my brother is such an honour.
Achieving medals for the Poomsae event for the first time ever at SUKMA (Malaysian Games) Sarawak and Perak back in 2016 and 2018 respectively were also very memorable.
Not to forget that I got to go to Korea multiple times because of taekwondo.
Q: Any athlete that you look up to?
A: Kang Su Ji from South Korea as she is a four-time world taekwondo Poomsae champion. So i really look up to her.
Q: What are you hoping to achieve in the sport?
A: I hope to continue representing the country and achieving medals in bigger events/games. I’d also love to inspire more youth to make them see the beauty of taekwondo.
Q: How is it like competing together with your brother in the duo event?
A: For me, I think it’s easier and there’s less pressure when training and competing together with my brother.
Of course, there’ll be arguments and fights sometimes because we do have different opinions and suggestions.
But yeah, siblings fight and get along easily and I think it’s really cool to have siblings doing the same thing.
Q: Do you all normally train together even at home?
A: Yes, we train together. We have this thing that says “kalau seorang training, semua training”. Unless something important shows up then we would end up doing training separately.
Q: Do you think being siblings actually helps with the chemistry?
A: Yes, it helps a lot. Siblings have greater and better chemistry so we don’t usually have problems in synchronising our movements.
Q: What do you think makes a good taekwondo athlete?
A: Good intentions, followed by self discipline, which helps to recognise the importance of training and preparation in reaching our goals. So with that, there’s commitment and the sacrificing of time and energy.
Determination is another thing. You need to have the passion and the competitiveness in you, so with that you have to stay motivated to accomplish your goals.
Q: It looks like you are into music. When did you start playing the guitar?
I started playing when I was 14 (I think). I only play the guitar for fun or when I’m bored and I’m not really that good either. (laughs)
Q: What is your favourite song to play and why?
A: I don’t think I have specific favourites, but I play whatever songs that I find nice and easy to play.
Q: Do you play any other musical instruments?
A: I don’t but I wish I could play the piano or drums though.
Q: Given how taekwondo is a Korean martial arts, are you a fan of K-Pop?
A: Yes, I’m a big fan! I have a lot of favourites with Blackpink, EXO and BTS just a name a few.
I guess because K-Pop has this visual and auditory content package that goes beyond anything I have seen in the Western music market. No offence but I do like English songs.
They have this catchy beat drops, genre and like, mixing of English phrases and what is interesting is that every group in the K-Pop industry has their own fandom.
Each fandom then has a name, light stick, official colours, fan chats, logos and others.
But long story short, they have great music, visuals and performances that can be easily enjoyed by everyone.
Q: What would be your workout or training song?
A: It’s tough to name a specific song but I usually have a mix list of songs from different groups from the hip hop and R7B genre to get myself hypes.
This includes groups from Big Bang, BTS, EXO, Blackpink, Seventeen and 2NE1.
Q: How do you view the future of taekwondo in Brunei?
A: More and more talented and committed kids/youth in the taekwondo team, so other than the Sparring and Poomsae teams, I’d love to see a taekwondo Demonstration and Breaking team in Brunei one day.
Q: Maybe some words you want to give to those looking to take up the sport.
A: Keep working hard and don’t ever give up, for Brunei
