A wish within reach

EVER since Amir Asyraf found out he was the winner of the final episode of Astro Supersport's Wishlist, he has been hard at work preparing for his trip of a lifetime.
The show that grants fans their ultimate sports wishes will see Wishlist hosts Reem Shahwa and Mark O'Dea, together with Amir and five members of the production crew, embarking on their journey to the Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal on Nov 27.
The Wishlist team has acted as a personal genie to previous lucky contestants, granting them wishes like spending a day with F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, watching a live Liverpool football match in England, and a WWE Wrestlemania affair in the US.
But this is the first time the hosts and winner had to physically beefed up on their strength and endurance, including the production crew who will be filming the whole strenuous trek to Annapurna Base Camp.
In preparation for the physically demanding eight-day hike, Amir has been training every week to improve his stamina, at various terrains like Sungai Chilling and Bukit Saga.
Recently, the eight bound for Annapurna were put through their paces during an endurance training at the Gasing Hill Forest Reserve under the guidance of Ravichandran Tharumalingam – nicknamed Ravi 'Everest', for having scaled Mount Everest twice in two years.
"Going to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp), you will be tested, and face many challenges," Ravi explained during the training.
"You have to move slow and according to your own pace, because if you push yourself too hard, you can get into what we call Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)."
Annapurna Base Camp has an altitude of 4,130m, where common symptoms of AMS can occur due to low levels of oxygen in the body.
"You can experience diarrhoea, dizziness, headache, you'll start vomiting. Sometimes even vomiting blood, but that is a more chronic symptom which can lead to death.
"That's why [the team] need to move slowly and have basic training, like the one here in Gasing, where we set two benchmarks for them.
"One is the vertical 200m climb with a 35° inclination, and the other is about 100m, but we limit the time – set at seven and three minutes – to know whether they're well prepared."
Amir said Ravi has provided lots of motivation and tips on how to survive in Annapurna.
"Like, if we encounter any wild animals such as a moose, donkey or cows, we need to let them pass first, otherwise, we'd be stuck there for a long time," he added with a smile.
The 21-year-old third-year bachelors in International Business student is still amazed at seeing his wish come true.
He has been actively vying for the chance to participate in the amazing Wishlist experiences since the show's first season's offering of a trip to Seattle for the International 5 Dota 2 Championships.
After trying a couple more times with no luck, and waning interest in certain Wishlist activities, he took a break from competing for a spot – until the show announced something that got his attention.
"When they posted this thing back in Aug – it was something about going to the Annapurna Base Camp, this was something I really wanted to go since I was 19.
"I actually saved money to visit that base camp but used it for my foundation studies instead."
He made it to the interview part this time around and was soon called for a "fitness test" in Bukit Nuang before a winner was decided.
To his surprise, he encountered the two Wishlist hosts after the activity.
"Every episode, they will prank the winner. I remember thinking it was weird for Mark and Reem to be standing there in Nuang, and whether or not I was being pranked."
It turned out that Amir was indeed pranked after all.
On the pretence of checking size measurements for the potential winner, the hosts helped Amir don a jacket with the MyEG logo – a sponsor for the Annapurna trek – and promptly informed him that he was indeed the winner.
Now, come this Monday, Amir is off to Nepal on his adventure of a lifetime.
Tune in to the Wishlist Season 2 finale on Dec 31 on Astro SuperSport (channels 810/ 831) or go to Astro Go, to catch Amir's adventure.