Valen Low

Valen Low

Valen Low on the left, and teammate Tay Jia Jun on the right.
Native name 卢威麟
Born Low Wai Luen Valen
(1994-01-14) 14 January 1994
Singapore
Nationality Singaporean
Education Townsville Primary School
Whitley Secondary School
ITE College Central
Alma mater Republic Polytechnic
Occupation Student
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 68 kg (150 lb) to 73 kg (161 lb)
Title Southeast Asia Armwrestling Champion
Oceania Armwestling Champion
Asia Youth Arm Wrestling Champion
Website Facebook
Competition record
Arm wrestling
Representing  Singapore
FitX Armwrestling Cup
1st 2014 Seniors U80kg
AAF Asia Armwrestling Championships
1st 2014 Right Hand Youth U21 65-70kg
2nd 2014 Left Hand Youth U21 65-70kg
Pattaya International Armwrestling Championships
3rd 2014 Seniors U75kg
Arnold Classic Australia Armwrestling Cup
4th 2015 Seniors U80kg [1]
3rd 2016 Seniors U80kg [2]
China International Armwrestling Championships
1st 2015 Right Hand Senior U70kg
3rd 2015 Left Hand Open

Valen Low (simplified Chinese: 卢威麟; traditional Chinese: 盧威麟; pinyin: Lú Wēi Lín; born 14 January 1994) is a Singaporean professional armwrestler.[3] He mostly competes Malaysia and regionally. He won the 2014 FitX Armwrestling Cup in Melbourne, Australia, as well as 1st and 2nd place, for right and left handed armwrestling respectively, at the Asia Armwrestling Championships 2014.

Low is the head of Singapore Armwrestling, the only armwrestling club in Singapore. He has attributed his success in the sport to training with the Singapore Armwrestling Team. He primarily trains with Desmond Lau Chee Loong, Tay Jia Jun (Tee Jun), Gregory Yeo Yi Chen and Jeffrey Phooi Eng Shen. [4]

Singapore Armwrestling Team at Changi Airport

Biography

Low began armwrestling at the age of 13, and developed a passion for the sport while attending Whitley Secondary School.[5] He is currently studying at Republic Polytechnic, majoring in Health Management and Promotion. He plans to compete in the World Armwrestling Federation's annual World Armwrestling Championship in the future.

Low has claimed to have been mocked and laughed at due to his passion for armwrestling, with his teachers describing his endeavours as "useless, a waste of time, nothing to achieve". A former teacher once tried to ban him from armwrestling. However, he was not discouraged and devoted time to armwrestling training. [4][5][6] [7]

After Low's O-level examinations in late 2010, he travelled to Malacca, Malaysia to compete in his first armwrestling competition. He was eliminated in the quarter finals of the men's open, over 85 kg category. Throughout 2011, he competed at a junior level at competitions in Malaysia, placing first several times. In 2012, he competed in the men's middle weight category, again winning several competitions.[8] Between 2011 and 2012 he won multiple Malaysia national titles. In 2013, he competed against Jian Jikan, Indonesia's top middleweight armwrestler, resulting in a 4–1 win for Low.[9] In late 2013, he defeated Malaysia's top middleweight arm wrestler, Joffey Jolly, attaining the top spot in the Singapore and Malaysia armwrestling rankings. Low is currently ranked first in the 75–85 kg weight class of Singapore and Malaysia.[9]

Armwrestling Career Highlights

Valen Low vs Melvyn Loh in the Finals of the FitX Armwrestling Cup 2014
Valen Low vs Dmitry Motorin at the Pattaya International Armwrestling Championships
Valen Low at the Asia Armwrestling Championships 2014

FitX Armwrestling Cup 2014

In 2014, Low was invited by the Australian Armwrestling Federation (AAF) to compete in the FitX Armwrestling Cup during the FitX Sport & Fitness Expo. He travelled to Melbourne for the competition using the $1000 prize he won from the Shin Min Armwrestling Challenge earlier that year.[5][7] The FitX competition was Southeast Asia and Oceania's biggest armwrestling competition that year. Low and a fellow Singaporean, Melvyn Loh Hao Jie, competed in the under 80 kg category. Low won his weight category and emerged as the champion of the senior under 80 kg category. He ranked 1st out of the other 7 competitors from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand. Following the competition, Low ranked first in the under 80 kg weight class in Oceania, and his teammate, Melvyn Loh, ranked second.[10]

Asia Armwrestling Championships 2014

In June 2014, Low, and fellow Singaporean, Desmond Lau, self-funded and competed in the 13th Asian Armwrestling Championships in Sendai, Japan from 27 to 29 June 2014. Valen competed in the under 21 years, 65 kg-70 kg left and right handed classes. He came in first in the right hand category and was the first runner up for the left hand category. So far, he has been the only Singaporean to achieve the title.[11][12]

Pattaya International Armwrestling Championships 2014

Low along with Singapore arm wrestler, Tay Jia Jun, competed in the Pattaya International Armwrestling Championships on 6 September 2014. The event had more than 50 competitors in each category, hailing from countries such as Kazakhstan, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, and the host country, Thailand. The competition also contained 3 different weight divisions: under 75 kg, 85 kg, and 85 kg+. Low achieved the title of second runner-up in the senior under 75 kg category by beating Russia's Dmitry Motorin, the first runner-up in the under 75 kg division of the 2013 Moscow Championships[13] and the 8th-place winner of the right hand under 70 kg category in the highly regarded A1 Russian Open 2013.[14] Low also achieved 6th place in the under 85 kg category and fellow Singaporean, Tay Jia Jun, attained 5th place in the senior under 85 kg category.[15]

China International Armwrestling Championships 2015

Low was invited to Shenzhen, China to compete in the China International Armwrestling Championships 2015. The event had competitors from Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and China. He came in first in the under 70kg right arm category by defeating China's number one ranked under 70kg armwrestler. He also came in third in the left arm open category despite weighing much lighter than his opponents.

World Armwrestling Championships 2015

Low spearheaded the Singapore Armwrestling Team to the 37th World Armwrestling Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was Singapore's inaugural participation in the World Armwrestling Championships. Low competed in the Junior under 21 years old, under 70kg category left and right arm. He placed 11 out of 19 competitors in the left arm category, being defeated by Turkey and Russia while winning Egypt. For the right arm category, he placed 11 out of 22 competitors, winning Turkey and Uzbekistan while being defeated by Russia and Georgia.[16]

Powerlifting - Bench Press

In addition to armwrestling, Valen has competed in raw powerlifting in Singapore, specifically the bench press. At the 2013 Singapore Powerlifting Open, he bench pressed 131 kg at his body weight of 80 kg and ranked second for the bench press in the under 83 kg weight class.[17] As of 2014, his personal best has been bench pressing 150 kg at a body weight of 77 kg. His personal best as of August 2014 was 142.5 kg at a body weight of 74 kg. Valen competed in an unofficial push-pull meet on 27 December 2014, and bench pressed 147.5 kg at a body weight of 72.6 kg, pressing more than 2 times his body weight. He plans to set national records for the bench press in the future.[18]

It's not that the students are incapable. It's that their abilities are dormant and it's up to the educators to draw out that potential.

“
”

— Valen Low and his views on education, February 2014.[19]

Media

In October 2014, MediaCorp Channel 5 aired the television series Secret Singapore, which featured Low and his armwrestling team in their profile on armwrestling in Singapore. This was the first time Valen appeared on national television.[20] On 9 December 2014, he made another media appearance. This time he was being featured on Channel NewsAsia's Singapore Tonight news programme. Channel NewsAsia described Low as 'Singapore youths making waves in niche sports', highlighting his achievements in overseas competitions such as the FitX Armwrestling Cup 2014 and the Asia Armwrestling Championships 2014. The news also discussed the funding challenges he faced in pursuing his armwrestling endeavors.[21]

Awards

Supermatches:

References

  1. 1 2 Collins, Simone (23 March 2015). "2015 Arnold Classic Australia Armwrestling Results". Arnold Classic Australia. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Australian, Australian (19 March 2016). "2016 Arnold Classic Australia Armwrestling Results". Arnold Classic Australia. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  3. ↑ World of Armwrestling
  4. 1 2 Woo, Jacqueline (2 November 2012). "Arm-wrestling brotherhood". Asiaone. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Lim, Benjamin (27 January 2014). "Winner of arm-wrestling contest wants to expand sport here.". The New Paper. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Sim, Ashleigh (27 January 2014). "Shin Min Arm Wrestling Challenge winner used to be laughed at in school.". The Straits Times. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  7. 1 2 Lim, Benjamin (29 January 2014). "Wrestle mania". Asiaone Singapore. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Tay, Abriel (7 April 2013). "19-year-old Singapore arm wrestler Valen Low on his way to achieving his dreams.". Red Sports. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Yap, Eve (18 February 2014). "Late bloomer in studies.". Asiaone News. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  10. 1 2 Invitational Cup, FitX (9 March 2014). "FitX Invitation Cup". Australia Armwrestling Federation. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Championships, Asia (27 June 2014). "Asia Armwrestling Championships 2014 Results". Armpower. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  12. 1 2 3 Armwrestling, Asia (1 July 2014). "RP's Valen Low is Asia Arm Wrestling Youth Champion". Republic Polytechnic OSG. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  13. ↑ Moscow Armwrestling Championship 2013, Results (14 December 2013). "RESULTS: Moscow Armwrestling Championship 2013". Xsportnews. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  14. ↑ A1 Russian Open 213, Results (26 July 2013). "RESULTS: A1 Russian Open 213". Xsportnews. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 Mail, Pattaya (19 October 2014). "Kazakhstanis put iron grip on Pattaya International Arm Wrestling Championship". Pattaya Mail. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  16. ↑ Results, WAC2015 (5 October 2015). "WAC2015-OFFICIAL-RESULTS-stamped.pdf" (PDF). World Armwrestling Federation. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  17. ↑ Sg, Powerlifting (10 July 2013). "Singapore Powerlifting Open 2013 – Closure and Full Results" (PDF). Powerliftingsg. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  18. ↑ Singapore, Powerlifting Alliance (28 December 2014). "Results for yesterday's Push Pull Me(a)t". Singapore Powerlifting Alliance. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  19. ↑ "Late bloomer in studies". Asiaone News. Retrieved 1 January 2015
  20. ↑ Entertainment, XINMSN (23 October 2014). "Episode 6 - Manly Pursuits". XINMSN Entertainment. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  21. ↑ Channel, NewsAsia (9 December 2014). "Singapore youths making waves in niche sports". Retrieved 4 January 2015.
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