Vero Nika
Vero Nika in June 2022
BornVerow
(1996-07-15) 15 July 1996
Moe Bye tract, Pekon Township, Shan State, Myanmar
Native nameမူဘယ်ရောနီကာ[1]
Other namesKayan Leopard (ကယန်းကျားသစ်)[2]
Vero V.Rujirawong (เวโร ว.รุจิรวงศ์)
Saokraeng Loomsalawin (สาวแกร่ง ลุ่มสาละวิน)
ResidenceChalong, Phuket, Thailand
NationalityMyanmar Burmese
Height1.64 m (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Weight53 kg (117 lb; 8 st)
DivisionBantamweight
StyleLethwei, Boxing, Muay Thai
StanceOrthodox
Fighting out ofPekon city, Shan State, Myanmar
TeamTiger Muay Thai
TrainerLuangnin
Years active2017–present
Boxing record from BoxRec

Vero Nika (Burmese: ဘရော်နီကာ) is a Burmese Lethwei and Muay Thai fighter of Kayan descent from Myanmar.[3][4] She is one of the most successful female Lethwei fighters in the sport.[5] In 2022, amid unrest in Myanmar because of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, she started competing in Muay Thai in neighboring Thailand. She reached the no.1 spot in the female world rankings at 53 kg according to World Muay Thai Organization,[6] and became Thai Fight Kard Chuek Champion.

Early life

Vero Nika is the daughter of U Nay Win and Daw Mu Theint. She was born in East Kahpu, a small village north of Moe Bye.[7] She is a Christian and an ethnic Kayan, and was named after Saint Veronica. After her fights she can sometimes be seen carrying the flag of the Karenni and/or Kayan people.[8] When she was young she had to help her mother sell the alcohol she made herself. Her father was sick so she would get up early before school and deliver around town while missing some time at school. Vero Nika is the fifth child out of six,[9] and they relied on the Roman Catholic monastery in Pekon for their education.[10]

Fighting career

Boxing

At the age of 16, when she was in 9th grade, she was determined to become a fighter.[11] Her parents did not approve of her new hobby but she was committed to succeed. With some borrowed money she left for Naypyidaw to start her training.[12] Since she mainly spoke in the Padaung language she had trouble understanding those who spoke Burmese. While in training that gradually improved. She continued to attend school but was forced to choose between education or sports a year later.[10] Her boxing career lasted from 2013 to 2017 in which she participated in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, and partook in several national championships claiming at least two gold medals in the process.

Lethwei

In 2017, Vero Nika started her Lethwei career because there weren't enough fights in boxing.[3][13] After being scouted by International Lethwei Federation Japan (ILFJ) promoter Yoshiyuki Nakamura in May, she participated in their Frontier event. She faced pro-wrestler Nanae Takahashi in a three round contest for the ILFJ Frontier Championship belt.[14][15]

On 15 November 2017, Vero Nika faced Julija Stoliarenko in Lethwei Grand Prix Japan 2017 in Tokyo. Stoliarenko's low-kicks caused a fracture in Vero Nika's tibia and she had to retire from the fight.[16] Stoliarenko won the Japan Lethwei World Title by TKO.[17][18][19]

In October 2018, a mix-fight card was held in Thailand with both Lethwei and Muay Thai bouts featured. The Lethwei portion of the show was also narrated in Burmese by the ringside announcer. Vero Nika faced Hongthong Liangprasert in the first of three encounters in her career. Due to a cut in round two, the fight was stopped and Vero Nika won by TKO.[20]

At the Air KBZ sponsored championship in 2018, Vero Nika once more fought Hongthong Liangprasert, this time for a chance to win the accompanying belt especially created for that match.[21] The fight ended up a draw however, so the belt was up for grabs again in January where she fought Wanida Yucharoen. This time around she won the fight and is officially crowned the Myanmar champion.[22][12]

In August 2019 she faced multiple-time Muay Thai champion Sawsing Sor Sopit at the 4th Myanmar Lethwei World Championship event.[23] This was a clear step up in competition and the fight was much anticipated.[24] Despite her many elbows and kicks it ended in a draw after 4 rounds.[25]

By 2020, Vero Nika was one of the most frequently seen fighters and had been booked in 8 fights in 2019 of which 6 materialized.[26] Vero Nika has previously expressed that it is difficult to get fights because there are very few native female Lethwei fighters.[12]

Muay Thai

While fighting she has been able to support her family to a certain extent, but the low income had kept her from committing to her career. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when fights were scarce, aside from helping her family in the farming business, Vero Nika temporarily took on the role of trainer at Phoenix Myanmar Lethwei Gym in Yangon.[7] Vero Nika's venture into Thailand started when a client who visited the gym suggested that it would be easier to get fights abroad and helped her get into contact with Tiger Muay Thai. After two encounters with Dangkongfah at Muay Hardcore, she was invited to Thai Fight. By the time she had her third fight, they had signed her to a 3-year contract.[2]

While fighting in Thailand she did not expect to have any support because of the situation back home and so many people having a hard time to survive. She felt she had fled and was having a good time while her countrymen weren't. She revealed that her victories were the good news they needed back home and support from fans and media has been constant ever since.[27][11]

On 17 April 2022, Vero Nika defeated her opponent Thailand's Yimsiam in just 30 seconds of the first round. She was then promoted to the no.1 spot in the female world rankings at 118lbs/53KG according to World Muay Thai Organization.[6]

Personal life

Vero Nika loves to sing and is also known by her nickname "Fighting Idol".[14][10] In 2018, she appeared on the third season of Myanmar Idol. She survived until the Green Mile, where she was eliminated. Sometimes she has a hard time when thinking of her family back home and the struggles they face. She confides in singing and listening to her favorite songs from home.[2]

Titles and accomplishments

Championships and Awards

  • Lethwei
    • Air KBZ Grand Final Myanmar Championship (60kg)[7]
    • 2019 Female Fighter of the Year[5]
  • Muaythai
    • Thai Fight Kard Chuek 2023 tournament champion (54kg)
    • Thai Fight Kard Chuek 2022 tournament champion (53kg)
    • World Muaythai Organization (WMO) No. 1 Ranked Women Bantamweight (53kg)[28]
    • World Boxing Council (WBC) Muay Thai No. 1 Contender Women Bantamweight (53kg)[29]
    • 2022 WMO Female Fighter of the Year

Lethwei record

Lethwei record
18 fights, 9 wins (9 (T)KOs), 1 loss, 8 draws
Date Result OpponentEventLocation MethodRoundTime
2020-01-15WinThailand Petchsaifah Sor.Sommai(68th) Kayah State DayLoikaw, MyanmarKO1
2020-01-04WinThailand Plaifah Mhooping AroijungbeiMandalay Rumbling Challenge FightTaungoo, MyanmarKO2
2019-11-03DrawFrance Miriam Sabot(6th) Air KBZ Aung Lan ChampionshipYangon, MyanmarDraw43:00
2019-08-18DrawThailand Sawsing Sor SopitMyanmar Lethwei World Championship 4Yangon, MyanmarDraw43:00
2019-04-20WinThailand Prakayrat WongsutaZin Kyaik Buddha Pujaniya FestivalZin Kyaik, MyanmarKO2
2019-03-20DrawThailand Hongthong LiangprasertMon-Myanmar-Thai Challenge FightsLamaing, Ye, MyanmarDraw43:00
2019-01-09WinThailand Phettae Kulabdamgym(27th) Karen New Year CelebrationHpa-an, MyanmarKO2
2019-01-04WinThailand Wanida YucharoenIndependence Day Challenge FightsTaungoo, MyanmarTKO1
Wins Air KBZ Championship belt
2018-12-16DrawThailand Hongthong LiangprasertAir KBZ Grand Final Myanmar ChampionshipYangon, MyanmarDraw43:00
For Air KBZ Championship belt
2018-10-28WinThailand Hongthong LiangprasertDiamond Super FightSamut Sakhon province, ThailandTKO2
2018-09-13DrawJapan Marina KumagaiLethwei in Japan 9: KodoTokyo, JapanDraw53:00
2018-08-19DrawBelarus Elena MishchukMyanmar Lethwei World Championship 3Yangon, MyanmarDraw43:00
2018-03-25WinThailand Jompaneng Sitpusoy Kom NingLethwei in ThailandSamut Sakhon province, ThailandKO2
2018-03-01WinThailand Prakayrat WongsutaKyaik Kelasa StadiumLamaing, Ye, MyanmarTKO3
2018-01-04WinMyanmar Mway Pway MaMandalay Rumbling Challenge FightTaungoo, MyanmarKO3
2017-11-15LossLithuania Julija StoliarenkoLethwei Grand Prix Japan 2017Tokyo, JapanTKO20:45
For ILFJ Women's Featherweight World Championship
2017-08-20DrawCosta Rica Mónica BrenesMyanmar Lethwei World Championship 2Yangon, MyanmarDraw43:00
2017-06-16DrawJapan Nanae TakahashiLethwei in Japan 4: FrontierTokyo, JapanDraw33:00
For ILFJ Women's Featherweight World Championship[36]
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

Muay Thai record

Muay Thai record
16 Wins (8 (T)KOs), 1 Loss, 0 Draws
Date Result OpponentEventLocation MethodRoundTime
2023-12-24WinThailand Phayasingha Sor.SommitThai Fight: Luang Pu ThuatAyutthaya, ThailandTKO1
Wins 2023 Thai Fight Royal Cup -54kg title
2023-11-26WinIran Zahra ShokouhiThai Fight: Bang KachaoPhra Pradaeng district, ThailandDecision33:00
2023-10-29WinThailand Phayasingha Sor.SommitThai Fight: Sethi Ruea ThongBan Mi district, ThailandDecision33:00
2023-06-18WinVietnam Triệu Thị Phương ThủyThai Fight: Luk Luang Phor SothornChachoengsao, ThailandTKO3
2023-05-21WinThailand Aomsin Srithong GymThai Fight: 100 Years Rajabhat KoratNakhon Ratchasima, ThailandKO1
2023-04-22WinItaly Ester ViolaThai Fight: RomeGenzano di Roma, ItalyDecision33:00
2023-02-05WinBrazil Yuly AlvesThai Fight: Luang Phor RuaySaraburi, ThailandDecision33:00
2022-12-24WinGreece Fani PeloumpiThai Fight: Metropolitan Police Bureau 100th AnniversaryBangkok, ThailandKO (Right cross)3
Wins 2022 Thai Fight Royal Cup -53kg title
2022-11-20WinArgentina Daniela LopezThai Fight: Vana Nava Hua HinHua Hin district, ThailandDecision33:00
2022-10-16WinBrazil Mariana BernardesThai Fight: VajiravudhBangkok, ThailandKO (Left hook to the body)2
2022-06-26WinThailand Plaifah Sor.NittayaThai Fight: SisaketSisaket, ThailandKO2
2022-05-29WinUnited States Angela ChangThai Fight: Nakhon SawanNakhon Sawan, ThailandDecision (Unanimous)33:00
2022-05-08WinIran Sanaz FeizollahThai Fight: Sung NoemSung Noen, ThailandKO1
2022-04-17WinThailand Yimsiam Komin-FurnitureThai Fight: Pathum ThaniPathum Thani, ThailandKO1
2022-03-20WinThailand Petchsarocha LooksaikongdinThai Fight: LampangLampang, ThailandDecision (Unanimous)33:00
2022-02-26WinThailand Dangkongfah SmartheartpowerpackgirlMuay HardcoreThailandDecision (Unanimous)33:00
2022-01-08LossThailand Dangkongfah SmartheartpowerpackgirlMuay HardcoreThailandDecision (Split)33:00
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

Amateur boxing record

Result Opponent Type Round Date Location Notes
Win Myanmar Ngu War Oo 3 December 2016 Myanmar Yangon, Myanmar 2016 Myanmar National Boxing Championship
Loss Thailand Tassamalee Thongjan DEC 3 (3) 8 June 2015 Singapore Expo Hall 1, Tampines, Singapore 2015 Southeast Asian Games semi-final
Win Singapore Nurshahidah Roslie DEC 3 (3) 6 June 2015 Singapore Expo Hall 1, Tampines, Singapore 2015 Southeast Asian Games quarter-final
Win Myanmar May Ye 28 February 2015 Myanmar Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium, Naypyidaw, Myanmar 4th Myanmar National Sports Festival final
Win Myanmar Naw Ohn Mar Soe 25 February 2015 Myanmar Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium, Naypyidaw, Myanmar 4th Myanmar National Sports Festival quarter-final
Loss Myanmar Hkatta Su Hlaing 4 March 2013 Myanmar Naypyidaw, Myanmar 2013 Union Cup Games

References

  1. ↑ "ကယန်းသမီးပျို လက်ဝှေ့မယ် မူဘယ်ရောနီကာ". Mizzima (in Burmese). 8 November 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2023. သူ့နာမည်က "မူဘယ်ရောနီကာ" ဖြစ်ပါတယ်
  2. 1 2 3 ""မွေထိုင်းကို နံပါတ် ၁ ဖြစ်ချင်တယ်" ကယန်းကျားသစ်မယ် ဘရော်နီကာနှင့် DVB မေးမြန်းချက်". Burmese DVB (in Burmese). 21 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 Soe, Kyaw Thu (11 November 2017). "'ညီမ အားသာတဲ့လက်သီးနဲ့ အလဲထိုးအနိုင်ယူဖို့ ပြင်ဆင်ထားပါတယ်၊၊'". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  4. ↑ ""นายกแจ๊ส" จัดมวยไทยไฟท์ให้คนปทุมดูมวยระดับโลกฟรี". Banmueng (in Thai). 16 April 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022. "เวโร ว.รุจิรวงศ์" สาวเมียนมาร์ขาโหด
  5. 1 2 Matthew Carter (2 January 2020). "2019 Lethwei World Awards". Lethwei World.
  6. 1 2 James Rees (29 April 2022). "Lethwei Star Vero Nika Claims No.1 In WMO Muay Thai Rankings". Lethwei World.
  7. 1 2 3 Oakar, Min (22 January 2021). "အမျိုးသမီး လက်ဝှေ့စစ်သည် ဘယ်ရောနီးကာ". Myanmar Lethwei Collection (in Burmese). Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Thai Fight မွေထိုင်းလက်ဝှေ့ပွဲတွင် ကယန်းလက်ဝှေ့မယ် ဘရော်နီကာက အမေရိကန်လက်ဝှေ့မယ်ကို အနိုင်ရ". Burmese DVB (in Burmese). 29 May 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "ကျား-မ စံတွေကို ကျော်ဖြတ်ခဲ့သူ". Honest Information Burma (in Burmese). 8 November 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2023. မောင်နှမ (၆) ယောက် ရှိပြီး သူကတော့ (၅)ယောက်မြောက်ပါ။
  10. 1 2 3 Thiha, Soe (11 March 2017). "စိတ်ကူးအိပ်မက်များဖြင့် ခွေးသံတရှဲရှဲ ကြိုးစားနေသည့် လက်ဝှေ့မယ်လေး ဘရော်နီကာ (ရုပ်သံ)". Burmese DVB (in Burmese). Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Myanmar Fighting Star Prays for Regime to Fall". The Irrawaddy. 28 October 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 "ရိုးရာ လက်ဝှေ့မှာ မြန်မာအမျိုးသမီးတွေထဲက ယှဉ်နိုင်သူ မရှိသေးတဲ့ ဘရော်နီကာ". BBC News (in Burmese). 11 January 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "6.16 TDC ホール大会全対戦カードが決定". ILFJ (in Japanese). 14 May 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  14. 1 2 "6.16TDC大会の追加対戦カード・高橋奈七永VSブロニカが決定". ILFJ (in Japanese). 8 May 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  15. ↑ "6.16 TDC大会出場の高橋奈七永・ブロニカ両選手からのコメントが到着". ILFJ (in Japanese). 30 May 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  16. ↑ Oo, Htet Lin (16 November 2017). "တိုကျို မြန်မာ့ရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့ပြိုင်ပွဲ ပတ်ကျော်လင်းနိုင် အလဲထိုး". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  17. ↑ "Lethwei results". Lethwei Schedule. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  18. ↑ Oakar, Min (22 January 2021). "အမျိုးသမီး လက်ဝှေ့စစ်သည် ဘယ်ရောနီးကာ". Myanmar Lethwei Collection (in Burmese). Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  19. ↑ Abhishek (2 July 2022). "What is the nationality of Julija Stoliarenko?". Media Referee.
  20. ↑ Lin, Aye Kay (3 November 2018). "မြန်မာ-ထိုင်း ရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့ပြိုင်ပွဲ ဘရောနီကာ(မြန်မာ)က မေ့တိုင်းချန်ပီယံ ကုန်ထောင်း(ထိုင်း)ကို အလဲထိုးနိုင်" (PDF). Myanma Alinn (in Burmese). p. 12. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  21. ↑ Oo, Aung Kyaw (17 December 2018). "ပြိုင်ဘက်ဒေပ်ကို ရှုံးကြွေးမဆပ်နိုင်ခဲ့သည့် ထွန်းထွန်းမင်း သရေရလဒ်ဖြင့်သာ ကျေနပ်ခဲ့ရ" (PDF). Kyemone (in Burmese). p. 8. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  22. ↑ Sein Lwin, Maung (17 December 2018). "မြန်မာ့ရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့ချန်ပီယံလုပွဲ စိန်ခေါ်သူ ထွန်းထွန်းမင်းနှင့်တာက လက်ရှိ ချန်ပီယံဒေ့ဗ်လက်ဒပ်(ဒေဝ)တို့ အရှုံး အနိုင်မပေါ်ဘဲ သရေကျ" (PDF). Myanma Alinn (in Burmese). p. 12. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  23. ↑ "4th Myanmar Lethwei World Championship". Myanmar Traditional Radio. 21 August 2019.
  24. ↑ Lwin, Maung Sein (19 August 2019). "မြန်မာ့ရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့ ကမ္ဘာ့ချန်ပီယံရွှေခါးပတ်ပြိုင်ပွဲ နောက်ဆုံးအချီတွင် ထွန်းထွန်းမင်းအနိုင်ရ" (PDF). Myanma Alinn (in Burmese). p. 8. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  25. ↑ "ROUND 7 – ဘရော်နီကာ (မြန်မာ) VS စောစင်ဆွာဆိုပစ်(ထိုင်း)". Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation (in Burmese). Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  26. ↑ Schroeder, Mark (30 October 2019). "State of Women's Lethwei". The Fight Site. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  27. ↑ "နောက်ဆုံးသုံးပွဲဆက်အနိုင်ရခဲ့သော ဘရော်နီကာနှင့် Thai Fight တို့ သုံးနှစ်သက်တမ်းရှိ စာချုပ်တစ်ရပ် ချုပ်ဆိုနိုင်ခဲ့". Eleven Media Group (in Burmese). 30 April 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  28. ↑ "Female Rankings". World Muay Thai Organization. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  29. ↑ "Female Rankings". World Boxing Council. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  30. ↑ "Myanmar National Championhips". Amateur Boxing Results. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  31. ↑ "Yangon hosted the Myanmar National Boxing Championships". Asian Boxing Confederation. Retrieved 14 August 2022. Ba was too strong for Home Affairs' Nge War Oo in the gold medal bout
  32. ↑ "4.Myanmar National Sports Festival". Amateur Boxing Results. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  33. ↑ "28.South-East Asian Games". Amateur Boxing Results. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  34. ↑ "ကယန်းလူမျိုး၏ အထူးဂုဏ်ဆောင်". 14 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  35. ↑ "30th DEC 2022 - Morning Daily News by Radio NUG". Radio NUG (in Burmese). 30 December 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2023. ထိုင်းဘုရင့်ဖလားနဲ့ခါးပတ်လုပွဲမှာ ချန်ပီယံရခဲ့တဲ့ ကယန်းတိုင်းရင်းသူ မူဘယ်ရောနီကာကို NUG အစိုးရက မှတ်တမ်းတင်ဂုဏ်ပြုလွှာပေးပို့
  36. ↑ "6.16 TDC 大会の4つの試合の勝利者にベルトを贈呈". ILFJapan (in Japanese). 7 June 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
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