Latest news with #Balqis


The Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Mind over miles
THE cool air of Cameron Highlands carries more than just the scent of tea leaves this July – it breathes life into a new generation of endurance athletes as they tackle the Cameron Ultra 2025. Wrapped in mist and silence, the trail becomes a canvas for perseverance, painted with every stride and heartbeat. Among the participants this year is Syarifah Balqis, a rising name in Malaysia's trail running scene. From completing her first ultra-marathon in 2022 to conquering a solo 100 km race at Trans Jeju, Balqis has steadily built a reputation for grit and quiet determination. Her journey from casual runs to completing 100km races reflects her steady commitment to growth. At this year's Cameron Ultra, she took on the challenge under the 100km Women Veteran category, seeing it as a personal escape to reconnect with herself and the calm that only the mountains can offer. As someone who often trains alone in nature, Balqis embraces the solitude of the trails, where every climb becomes a conversation between body and mind. 'Running through the Cameron Highlands felt like coming home – the cool air, the familiar trails, and a deep sense of calm in the quiet. Partway through the race, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my ankle. It wasn't an easy decision, but I trusted my instinct and chose to stop. Not finishing was tough, but I've come to realise that resilience isn't just about pushing through – it's about listening to your body and having the strength to walk away when it matters most.' said Syarifah Balqis This year's Cameron Cultra, which took place over the weekends, features multiple categories – 100km, 60km, 30km, 14km, and a special 4km junior race. The course is notorious for its challenging terrain and unpredictable weather, demanding not only strong legs but also an iron will. For many amateur athletes, particularly those like Syarifah with full-time careers and active personal lives, training for such a race is an act of deep personal commitment. Beyond the adrenaline, the Cameron Ultra stands as a symbol of why movement matters. In a world overwhelmed by fast-paced urban life, trail running offers something rare: stillness in motion. The rhythm of feet crunching on gravel, the solitude between checkpoints, and the unfiltered beauty of nature all contribute to a mental sanctuary where clarity replaces chaos. Syarifah also shared that running for hours in solitude teaches more than stamina. It cultivates discipline, the kind that gets you out of bed for a 5am training run. It sharpens focus as every step on uneven ground demands attention. It builds determination, especially when your legs ache and the next aid station feels miles away. Most of all, it fuels ambition, not to beat others but to become a stronger version of yourself. As Malaysia looks to foster more interest in sports and wellness, events like Cameron Ultra serve as both inspiration and platform. They encourage Malaysians of all ages to get outside, set personal goals, and take that first step — whether it's a 4km fun run or a gruelling 100km mountain quest. With runners like Syarifah leading the way, this year's Cameron Ultra promises more than personal bests. It promises stories of transformation, fueled by determination and grounded in the belief that movement can heal, empower, and connect. Elevate your own fitness journey and join the OneASICS membership program for exclusive benefits and insights at


Hype Malaysia
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hype Malaysia
BABYMONSTER Ticket Scam Takes Heartwarming Turn After Fan Offers Free Ticket In Return For Prayers
With the influx of concerts in Malaysia, it's hard to avoid scammers and scalpers. After unfortunately getting scammed over tickets to BABYMONSTER's (베이비몬스터) upcoming show, this fan revealed a netizen's kind gesture. Over the weekend, Twitter user Saffa (@/saffazaidii) went onto the social media platform to share her unfortunate experience of getting scammed over concert tickets. The K-pop fan revealed that she had paid RM820 to a person selling tickets to K-pop group BABYMONSTER's upcoming concert at Axiata Arena. Sadly, it turned out that the ticket seller was a scammer, and Saffa lost nearly RM900. Adding to netizens' shock, the scammer is a repeat offender and has scammed many others for multiple concerts. The Twitter post has since gone viral, raking over 2 million views. The sharing also sparked discussion about concert ticket scams, including how to spot a scammer and what people can do to avoid getting scammed. While netizens continued to discuss the issue, Saffa revealed a heartwarming turn to the situation. After sharing her dilemma, Saffa revealed a message from a fellow K-pop fan, Balqis (@/qishhed). As shown in the message, Balqis offered Saffa her BABYMONSTER concert ticket as she could no longer attend the show because her mother was admitted to the hospital. Even more heartwarming, she offered to give the ticket for free in return for prayers for her sick mother. Saffa said she was so touched by the kind gesture that she started crying out of happiness. She also asked the public to help pray for Balqis' mother, who is in the intensive care unit (ICU). Netizens have also reacted to the conversation, showering Balqis with praise for her kindness. Many also said they'll pray for Balqis and her mother to reciprocate her generosity towards a fellow K-pop fan. It's so heartwarming to see the conversation between Saffa and Balqis. We hope everything goes well for both of them. We also wish Balqis' mother a quick and smooth recovery. Sources: Twitter (1)(2) What's your Reaction? +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0


Gulf Today
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Firetti Contemporary show connects winter of despair with spring of hope
Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer Firetti Contemporary @ Alserkal Avenue is presenting The Unseen Presence, a collective exhibition featuring the works of Ahmad Tallaa, Bassam Kyrillos, Besher Koushaji, Eyad Jouda, Hikmat Naeem, Ibrahim Hamid, Kamal Al Zoubi, Mahmood Al Daoud and Suheil Baddor (Feb. 12 – Apr. 12). Through painting, sculpture, and mixed media, the show examines the invisible forces that shape history and identity by exploring themes of memory, migration, resilience, and cultural transformation. Inspired by Nizar Qabbani's poem Balqis, it interrogates subjects such as exile, war, and the irreversible shifts wrought by displacement. Qabbani's verses, which mourn not only a loved one but also a homeland, sets the mood: 'The sweetest homeland,/One can't stand,/Living in such a homeland./One can't stand,/Dying in such a homeland.' The words indicate the paradox of memory — how displacement coexists with longing and how a place remains deeply cherished, though terribly transformed. But The Unseen Presence explores the idea further, not content just to portray individual experiences. It moves beyond personal mourning and nostalgia to look at larger histories existing as fractured realities, shifting identities, and evolving landscapes. Some works embrace nostalgia, while others question its fragility. Some reconstruct the remnants of a vanished past, while others examine the tension between survival and erasure. Ahmad Tallaa and Suheil Baddor investigate the landscapes of migration and the caravan of emotions it generates. Tallaa captures the unseen presence of comfort even in dire circumstances, depicting sanctuary as a cherished place, though delicate and fleeting, where existence is lived in spaces between nostalgia for the past and the uncertainty of the future. The muffled palette reflects the emotional burden of displacement, while moments of warmth even in that condition, suggest hope. In contrast, Baddor explores the unseen presence of waiting, portraying figures suspended in time, their identities in flux between what was and what is to be. The layered, abstracted compositions evoke exile as an unresolved state — where bodies are dispersed, and the search for belonging never ends. Similarly, Ibrahim Hamid and Baddor focus on the experiences of displaced women. Baddor's figures mirror the shifting nature of identity and memory, while Hamid preserves figuration, using bold brushstrokes to emphasise the emotional toll of displacement. Eyes in both cases serve as portals to silent narratives, revealing grief and the will to overcome it. While Baddor leans to abstraction, Hamid balances it with realism, emphasising the endurance of those who carry not just personal loss, but the load of collective displacement. The instability of memory — both individual and collective — forms the foundation of Besher Koushaji and Hikmat Naeem's works. Koushaji examines the unseen presence of memory, constructing portraits where faces appear and dissolve, representing the way memories swing between clarity and fade-out. The compositions speak of the fragility of identity in times of turmoil. Naeem expands the theme, taking it beyond the human figure, exploring the unseen presence of lost cities, where architecture dissolves into abstraction. His compositions depict urban spaces on the verge of disappearance, with fading structures that evoke painful stories of war, migration, and elimination. While Koushaji focuses on how individuals carry history within them, Naeem reveals how cities too, are affected by the passage of time and loss. Eyad Jouda and Bassam Kyrillos examine physical and psychological endurance. Jouda's wire-bound sculptures embody the presence of a silence which screams. His precariously poised figures, living or dying in worlds falling between vulnerability and safety, speak of the price of migration, where survival is a brittle equilibrium between resistance and surrender. Kyrillos delves into the unseen presence of sacrifice, merging human forms and architectural decay. His haunting imagery presents figures that appear to emerge from — and disband into — eroded buildings, embodying suffering and survival. While Jouda's sculptures symbolise dissent through balance and motion, Kyrillos's works depict destruction, displacement and transformation through decay and fragmentation. Mahmood Al Daoud also engages with loss and renewal with his work reflecting the unseen presence of transfiguration, depicting cycles of death and rebirth. He reimagines memory as something that both disintegrates and yet lives in different forms; ruination is not absolute, but rather an essential part of remaking. While Kyrillos anchors his work in the decay of built environments, Al Daoud evokes the movement of time through abstraction, revealing how history leaves imprints long after physical markers have faded. Unlike the other artists, Kamal Al Zoubi approaches nostalgia playfully, engaging with it in a way that bridges past and present. His LEGO-Inspired Arabic Tower transforms childhood memories and linguistic traditions into sculptural forms, reinterpreting Arabic calligraphy through a contemporary lens. Where other artists explore remembrances through decay, exile and struggle, Al Zoubi captures it through joyful abstraction. He maintains a connection to the past, where heritage is not something mourned, but is something continuously reimagined. Through these different yet interconnected perspectives, The Unseen Presence invites audiences to engage with broken realities, the detritus of identity, and histories that refuse to fade – now very common occurrences. It asks: What does it mean to face ruination and rebuild from ruins? How do we carry the unseen weight of history? Can a homeland be reconstructed — not just physically, but with the original content of cultural and emotional memory? The exhibition is not just about loss — it is about resilience too. Even in destruction, something remains - a trace, a shadow or an unseen presence, that shapes the way we live in this world.