Skate Asia 2022 is an international ice skating competition organized by the Ice Skating Institute (ISI) Asia. This competition was held at Sunway Pyramid Ice, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 6-13, 2022. This event will be the first since the last time it was held in 2019.

By going all out, Ismail managed to get first place and steal 2 gold medals in 2 different categories in this event, them being technical and artistic categories. This was fantastic because Ismail himself was only 4 months into the world of figure skating . "Even though it has only been 4 months, that doesn't mean it's a barrier to being able to advance in the competition," Ismail wrote.

When competing, feeling inferior is inevitable for him. "Before the match, there was a warm-up session, and I saw who my competitors were and from which country they were from. I was already very insecure at that time, I even told the coach that I had automatically lost then," said the man often called Mail. However,

Mail managed to win two titles at the event in the end.
Mail himself admits that his desire to form a healthy lifestyle is a motivation to engage in figure skating. "Moreover, this figure has its own element," said Mail when he was recently interviewed with an ITB Public Relations reporter. ‘Its own elements’ meant like a combination of creativity and exact elements such as the timing of the execution of various elements on the ice. "So it takes calculation as well, especially in utilizing the competition arena so the maximum," he added.

Prior to competing in the event, Mail begana training program which started last July. Some programs such as performances using music, elements used, choreography, to learning on-ice patterns. The rest of the time, Mail trains physically by jumping rope and off-ice warm-ups as a training tool.

Mail himself admitted that time and mentality were the main obstacles in preparing for this competition. "When I was practicing, I still couldn't focus and was still thinking about other things, so it wasn't at my maximum on the ice," he revealed. To overcome these obstacles, Mail was advised by Vanessa (a senior at ITB who was also an Ice Skating achiever) to not bring everything under stress. “Mind-body connection. It all starts with the right mindset. If you don't carry the burden and stress, all of a sudden the elements and programs will be all finished," he messaged.

Mail expressed his gratitude for all the support because it meant a lot in his achievements this time. "Thanks to both of my parents who had given permission to join this competition abroad, my patient coach, fellow skater friends who accompanied my process until D-Day, Kak Vanessa, a fellow almamater who is also a figure skater, and other athlete friends who never got tired to give messages and tips during practice and when i was going to compete," he said.

As for his future target, Mail said that he wanted to continue training to raise his level to a higher extent.

Reporter: Kevin Agriva Ginting, GD’20
Photo Source: Dok. Ismail Al Faruqi
Translator: Hanna Daniela Ayu (Aerospace Engineering, 2021)