Life has been a rollercoaster of emotions for Singapore’s “Mighty” May Ooi.

A sporting prodigy as a child, she was trained as a competitive swimmer from a young age, and went on to represent Singapore in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games after winning countless regional titles.

Since hanging up her goggles and swimming cap, she’s turned her attention to another demanding sport, and now competes in ONE’s strawweight division. There, she’s looking to honour her late fiancé, who died tragically last year in a motorcycle accident.

On 24 November, she’ll step into the ONE Championship cage for the second time, when she takes on Cambodia’s Vy Srey Khouch at ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT.

It’s a far cry from the warm-up pool she used to frequent as a youngster, but she’s taken her change in sporting direction in her stride.

“I was competing since I was 9 years old,” she said.

“Life takes you in crazy directions, sometimes. It has now catapulted me into a cage.”

Joining ONE Championship with an even record from her early contests, Ooi made an instant name for herself, but it had nothing to do with her Olympic background.

The Singaporean may be familiar with elite-level competition, but in martial arts terms, she was a relative unknown. But that all changed on her ONE debut, when she scored a sensational upset victory over Malaysian superstar Ann “Athena” Osman with a first-round rear-naked choke.

Now teaching capoeira to children at her gym, Ooi has been making final preparations ahead of her bout with Khouch at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The task of training has been a near-constant throughout her life, and she explained how she had to rededicate herself fully to her new sport.

“I have always enjoyed training and competing,” she said.

“But when you have to compete at this level, it takes total commitment, and you have to change your other commitments. When the stars align, you know you have to do it.”

Ooi embarked on her martial arts journey eight years ago, guided by her late fiancé, Silvio Romero da Silva. His sudden death last December, caused by a motorcycle accident on the island of Bali, still affects Ooi to this day.

“His death was really sudden, and even as we speak, I am dealing with it,” she said.

“He was a big part of my life, and he was the one who groomed me for the longest time. And when he was still alive, he always talked about me competing with ONE.”

It’s for that reason that Ooi pulls on her gloves, and steps into the ONE Championship cage this weekend. She once thought her days as a competitive elite-level athlete were behind her, but her dedication to honouring her late fiancé sees her looking to make an impact in her new sport.

“I did not feel like I had a need to do it. It was something that he wanted,” she explained.

“Deep down inside me, this is what he had wanted. So, basically, I am doing this to fulfill his memory. This is his last wish.”

Ooi confirmed that she’s not just looking for validation in one contest. She’s looking to win, then move forward in a division that’s looking for a champion.

“I have been signed for a number of bouts, and I am competing in a division that does not have a title holder,” she said.

“So it is wide open, and I have already beaten Ann Osman.

“I do not do stuff just to do stuff. Whether or not I attain it is a different matter.”

Any thoughts of a world title will be put on hold when she takes on Khouch – a dangerous striker – on 24 November.

While she knows she must be wary of her opponent, she says her life experiences to this point have helped her in one crucial aspect of her craft – controlling her fear.

“She is obviously a kickboxer, but she is a good striker. You have to be careful in the cage,” she explained.

“I cannot speak for the other martial artists, but for me, there is always a certain level of uncertainty, because you never know what is going to happen.

“Yeah, there is fear, but it has been managed in such a way that I do not really feel it anymore. There has to be some level of fear being in there, but you have to manage it.”

South Korean sensation Dae Hwan Kim returns to the ONE Championship cage after a two-year absence, with revenge on his mind and a world title in his sights.

The 30-year-old, nicknamed “Ottogi”, returns to ONE Championship on 24 November, and will face Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Leandro Issa (14-6) at ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Kim (12-1-1) last appeared in the ONE cage back in October 2015, where he scored a rear-naked choke victory over Teng Li Ge. But after that win, he turned his attention to his coaching, including investing in his girlfriend’s martial arts training. It meant his own career took a back seat.

After their relationship soured earlier this year, Kim reassessed his priorities, and focused on his personal goals.

“Now,” he says, “I am concentrating on me.”

He took a warm-up bout in a local promotion in Korea to dust off the cobwebs, and scored a 23-second TKO victory to convince himself he was ready to return to the global stage again.

Now, he returns to the ONE cage looking to pick up where he left off, and work his way towards a bout against the only man to defeat him, reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes.

“I was hungry,” he said.

“I asked for a match within a month. I did not know Andrew Leone had withdrawn, but the timing was right.”

Leone’s loss was Kim’s gain, as he was handed a dream opportunity to not just return, but to catapult himself straight into the bantamweight title picture.

The South Korean striker is a national champion in Muay Thai, taekwondo, and wushu, and has showcased his diverse striking arsenal, along with his submission game, to finish nine of his 12 wins inside the distance.

The bout with Issa will pit two former world title challengers head-to-head, with both men seeking another shot at the gold.

Kim was submitted by Fernandes in their title tussle back in December 2014, while Issa lost out to Kim’s countryman Soo Chul Kim in a bout for the inaugural ONE Bantamweight Title back in October 2012.

Victory will propel one of the pair back towards a second title opportunity, and despite holding clear respect for his Brazilian opponent, Kim is determined that it will be him that progresses.

“I think he (Issa) is the closest to the ONE Bantamweight World Title,” he explained.

“He has a lot of experience and good jiu-jitsu. He is a good partner to test myself.”

In Kim’s mind, the result is already predetermined. He says it’s his destiny to make his ONE Championship return, win his way back into title contention, then exact revenge on his former foe and become world champion.

“I came back to take the title from Bibiano. The ONE Bantamweight World Title is mine,” he declared.

“I tasted the experience of Bibiano in the first leg. The second game will be an easy match for me.”

Nakhon Pathom, Thailand – From the courtyard of a Catholic girls’ school outside Bangkok, Sister Ana Rosa Sivori is eagerly awaiting a visit to the region from her second cousin – Pope Francis.

Six years his junior, the sprightly 75-year-old nun has watched from abroad as her cousin transforms from the “shy” kid she grew up with in Buenos Aires to a global figurehead, unafraid to speak his mind and wade into treacherous political waters.

That boldness will be tested next week when the pontiff visits first Myanmar and then Bangladesh – countries reeling from a Rohingya refugee exodus sparked by ethnic and religious hatreds.

While the pontiff will not have time for a face-to-face reunion, Sister Ana Rosa will be closely watching her pen pal from her home in Thailand, where she first arrived as a Salesian missionary more than 50 years ago.

“He is coming for the Myanmar people, not for us,” the fluent Thai-speaker said from the schoolyard in Nakhon Pathom, where pupils buzz around her white robes and playfully grab onto her cross as she passes through the lunch area.

“It is the right time for him to come to Asia. These two places, Myanmar and Bangladesh, they are in conflict….he sees the need to encourage people, to build a bridge of peace.” The cousins, whose grandfathers were brothers, have not seen each other in three years but exchange letters funnelled through the Vatican Embassy in Bangkok.

“I keep everything,” Sister Ana Rosa said as she pulled out an envelope of notes from the pontiff – written in tight, miniscule black script and signed with a simple “Francisco”.

As for the political sensitivities hanging over his Myanmar trip, the nun says her cousin is “not afraid at all”.

The Pope has been outspoken about his sympathy for the Muslim Rohingya – a stance that could trigger protests in mainly Buddhist Myanmar where the minority is vilified.

“He is not afraid of saying ‘you should look after these people’,” she told AFP, saying she expected him to talk tough with Myanmar’s government leaders over their treatment of the persecuted Muslim minority.

As for his interlocutors: “They cannot be the same after meeting him.” 

‘Shy and reserved’

That wasn’t always the case.

She chuckles as she recalls Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as a younger priest who didn’t always have such a silver tongue.

“Listening to him I thought, he was so boring,” she said of a mass he gave back in the 1990s.

Sister Ana Rosa now turns to his sermons as a source of solace, tracking his every move across the world stage.

“His words are really profound, and practical.” Francis’ trademark smile is also a new development, she explains.

“He was very shy person, reserved. He didn’t smile before. Now he smiles a lot. He likes to be with people.” The other nuns at her school often grab onto Sister Ana Rosa’s wrists, just to feel closer His Eminence.

But she says it is still strange to see Francis as anything other than her big cousin.

Their last chat in the Vatican several years ago was friendly and familiar, she said, spanning family affairs and their shared line of work.

“I thought to myself – I’m talking to the pope?” she said with a hearty laugh.

Seoul – An annual hush descended upon South Korea Thursday as hundreds of thousands of students sat the crucial national college entrance exam, delayed for a week by a rare earthquake.

Educational authorities had to change four exam sites at Pohang, affecting about 2,000 candidates, after a 5.4-magnitude quake shook the southern city a week ago.

More than 60 minor aftershocks have hit Pohang throughout the past week, forcing 1,500 residents to stay in shelters.

In South Korea’s ultra-competitive society, the college entrance test plays a large part in defining students’ adult lives, holding the key to top universities, an elevated social status, good jobs, and even marriage prospects.

If serious tremors are felt during the exam, students in Pohang have been told to take shelter under their desks, or head outside.

More than 200 buses were on standby Thursday to take students in Pohang to 12 alternative exam sites in case the city is jolted during the test.

“I am concerned about the quakes but I am summoning up the courage to focus on the exam,” student Kim Han-Beom in Pohang told the Yonhap news agency.

Extraordinary measures are taken in South Korea to ensure nothing disturbs students.

All takeoffs and landings at South Korean airports are suspended for 35 minutes to coincide with an English listening test, and all planes in the air must maintain an altitude higher than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet).

The Transport Ministry said 98 flights, including 36 international ones, had to be rescheduled because of the exam.

Public offices, major businesses and the stock market opened an hour later than usual on Thursday to help ease traffic and ensure students arrived on time for the exam, which began nationwide at 8:40 am (2340 GMT).

Any students stuck in traffic could get police cars and motorbikes to rush them to the exam centres.

Outside test centres in Seoul, junior students waved banners and chanted encouragement as candidates entered exam rooms.

“After the exam was put off for a week, senior students’ anxieties have increased. That’s why we came here early in the morning to cheer them up”, Kim Eun-Ji from the Dukseong women’s high school told AFP.

More than 593,000 students are sitting the exam this year, down 2.1 per cent from a year earlier.