Born
on 26.12.1972 in Wiesbaden Germany, Daniel works as a Financial
Controller for a German MNC in Singapore.
Daniel first got in touch with martial arts when he was 8 years
old while staying with his parents in El Paso, Texas USA. His interest
in martial arts started by watching Kung Fu movies with his father
on Saturdays. As one of his good friends was practicing Judo, Daniel
decided to pick up martial arts. His father being an air force officer
introduced him to one of the local army drill sergeants who was
a well known Karate practitioner and teacher. Daniel practiced BKKA
Karate under Mr. O'Neil for 2 years until the assignment of his
father in the USA ended.
Daniel's family moved to Siegen, Germany where Daniel started to
play soccer in a club for the next 4 years with his classmates and
friends. After some injuries and fading team spirit in his soccer
team, Daniel lost his interest for soccer and was considering to
pick up martial arts again.
So it happened that his sister and he looked around for a local
martial arts club in Siegen. They found Nia Kwang Pugilistic Association,
which was at that time teaching under the umbrella of the Judo Vereinigung
Siegerland.
Daniel was 14 years old when he met Sifu Seet Chor Thong for the
first time. At that time most of the training was conducted by Sifu
Ali Ol.
The training was different from what Daniel ever had experienced
before. He enjoyed the hard and serious training so much that he
soon started to train 5 times a week. Daniel needed to develop good
discipline in order to balance his school work and training. With
the intensive martial arts training, the once shy boy became more
confident and this new found confidence and discipline had lead
to good school results. Daniel became so popular among his classmates
that he was voted as one of the school's spokesmen.
At 18 years old, Daniel had to move with his parents again to Bonn,
Germany. With the permission of Sifu Seet Chor Thong, Daniel was
soon teaching Nia Kwang Kung Fu at two different clubs in Bonn.
To further improve his own training, Daniel traveled twice a week
to Siegen by train which was a 1 1/2 half hour ride one way.
At age 20, Daniel made his black bet under Sifu Seet Chor Thong
and Sifu Ali Ol.
In 1994, Daniel traveled with Sifu Seet Chor Thong and other classmates
for the first time to Singapore to train 3 weeks with Sifu Lim Chin
Kim, the teacher of Sifu Seet Chor Thong. Subsequent training trips
to Singapore followed in 1996 and 1998.
In 1999, Daniel did an attachment for his business studies in Shanghai
followed by a 4 month stay in Singapore with intensive training
with Sifu Lim Chin Kim. During this time Daniel also got to know
his future wife Ms Vivian Lim. After his 4 month stay in Singapore,
Daniel went back to Germany to finish his studies.
In 2000, Daniel decided to pack his bags and move to Singapore.
Since then Daniel has trained intensively with Sifu Lim Chin Kim.
Daniel is now a Singapore Permanent Resident married to a Singaporean
and has a 2 year old daughter.
Daniel was on the front page of Lianhe Zhaobao newspaper after winning
a gold medal in the first Zhou Jia Quan championship in 1999 at
Suntec City, as well as appeared on a local TV documentary on Chinese
martial arts "Wh Lin Wai Shi" on Media Corp Channel 8.
For short clips please go to MEDIA.
In 2002, Daniel was
one of the founding members of SMARS (Singapore Martial Arts Research
Society) together with his good friend Chris De Wet. This is also
where Daniel discovered his love for Mixed Martial Arts and Grappling.
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