Once excluded from PE, now a national athlete: Meet Singapore’s only female national wheelchair rugby player

It used to be called murderball because of how physical the sport is. Most people know it as wheelchair rugby.

Each team has four players and, throughout the game, you will hear the resounding clang of wheelchair against wheelchair, metal against metal, as players fight to get a ball across the goal line.

These collisions are an integral part of the game, said 25-year-old Nur Sabrina Suhaimi.

“It’s like bumper cars – exhilarating. It is a game where you can unleash your madness in a legal way,” she laughed.

Hearing the young Singaporean para athlete talk, you might forget that she has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a rare genetic neurological disorder that damages peripheral nerves. It causes progressive muscle weakness and loss of sensation, usually beginning in the feet and legs, and can later affect the hands and arms.

Sabrina’s fingers curl inwards and she is unable to fully straighten them, making it hard for her to grip items, open a mineral water bottle or button shirts.

She needs a walking cane, as well as braces known as ankle-foot orthoses on both legs to walk short distances.

But when she’s on a purpose-built rugby wheelchair, she flies across the court.

As Singapore’s only female national wheelchair rugby player, Sabrina said the men were initially gentler on her simply because of her gender. That was until they saw her fire.

“Recently, we had a tournament, and I kept banging into my opponent. He told me that I own this court,” she laughed.

Colleagues and friends are always surprised that Sabrina plays this hard-hitting sport. Off the court, she is a gentle soul with the most infectious laugh.

Growing up, she was the smallest kid in every class, and not in the least bit athletic.

At five, she began