Female muaythai has truly become as popular and in some countries even more popular than its male counterpart. Stadiums around the world are filled to bursting point with fans following their female heroes and this award honours past performance and contributions to the sport.
The nominees for this year’s induction into the Female Hall of Fame were:
Caley Reece (Australia)
Miriam Nakamoto (USA)
Fatima Pinto (Norway)
Sue Latta (New Zealand)
The award whent to none other than Sue Latta from New Zealand. After having enjoyed a successful career as an outstanding athlete and world champion, as a coach, team manager after which she progressed on to executive level sports administration as the President of the muaythai national federation of New Zealand, and then on to be the President of the Continental Federation for Oceania and now as the Chairperson of the Female Commission and Vice President of IFMA.
Sue’s dedication and commitment to the sport and art of muaythai, to the athletes, and to the overall development of the sport, have been of significant value to how the sport has grown over the years.
As the chairperson of the Female Commission, Sue has earned herself immense respect from her peers on the IFMA Executive Board, leading what is in fact the most active and progressive of all the IFMA commissions.
Her extensive knowledge and comprehensive research projects have led to important alterations and improvements to the female uniform and safety equipment, which in turn has resulted in raising the ratio of female to male competitors in the sport – a major factor in favour of the sport’s bid for recognition by the International Olympic Committee. She has furthermore led the initiative to develop a standardized additional uniform which will allow female athletes of the Muslim faith to participate freely in the sport of muaythai.
Sue’s induction into the Female Hall of Fame is testament to her many achievements, her hard work and sacrifice; all indicative that she truly has and does live by and for the five pillars of our sport; tradition, culture, respect, excellence and fair play.
