Cheerful, friendly, active and easy to train - these are the words that her coach used to describe upcoming Sabahan teenage sprinter Felicia Mikat, who recently dominated the Asean Paralympic Games 2015 (vision-impaired category).

Having coached Felicia since last year's league, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Badin special education teacher Bryan Bonni said he sensed talent in the 16-year-old sprinter since she was in Form One.

Bonni related that Felicia displayed extraordinary talent during the athletics competition at the school, and was the most active athlete among the 34 special education students there.

"In fact, she was able to challenge the ability of normal students at the athletics competition at the school level. Since then, we have been honing her talents in sprint and long jump events," he told Malaysiakini .

Though Bonni noted that natural talents aside, it was Felicia's passion and diligence that saw her progress far in a relatively short time, and for her age.

Recalling his experience of coaching her, Bonni said that Felicia is disciplined and readily take instructions.

"She is very passionate and easy for me to coach. She will follow instructions and will not miss training unless she is sick," he said.

Before carving a name for herself at the Asean Paralympic Games 2015 in Singapore earlier this month, Bonni said Felicia had participated in many tournaments at various levels within the country.

"She represented Sabah several times at the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) games, the Malaysian Games (Sukma), and other tournaments. From her current performance, she was chosen to represent the country at the Asean Para Games."

Though Bonni admitted that while he saw great promise in his protege, he never expected her to shine as brightly as she did in the regional Paralympics meet.

"Through my previous observations, the competition at the Asean level is very intense, especially the contestants from Thailand. So I did not expect Felicia to win the gold medal.

"But Felicia surprised everyone, successfully bringing home three gold medals. It was an unexpected achievement," Bonni said proudly.

He believes that Felicia may surpass all expectations again in the future if she works harder, though the coach said that it is better to allow the young athlete to develop at her own pace without too much pressure.

"Let her mature first and in the meantime, she herself will work harder to achieve greater success," reasoned Bonni.