Commonwealth karate champion Nastenska Sureshar surpassed her goal of raising RM6,350 to pay for her daily living expenses as a university student, with Malaysians contributing to help her pursue her dreams.

As at 5.20pm Tuesday, the 21-year-old raised RM6995.80 through Skolafund – a crowdfunding website for education.

Wanita MIC has also stepped in to offer her a scholarship of RM1,000 per month from March until December, she said.

Wanita MIC chief Mohana Muniandy, who met with Nastenska on Tuesday, also promised to find sponsors for the gold medallist for the next two years of her engineering degree at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten).

“I feel so glad that everything worked out. I was really struggling in 2015,” she told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Nastenska, who won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Karate Championship, sought public assistance to pay for her transport, meals and other daily expenses so she could continue pursuing an engineering degree and karate on the global stage.

She turned to crowdsourcing after failing to secure a scholarship via the Youth and Sports Ministry, which she was assessed for before she won the gold medal for Malaysia.

In an interview with Malaysiakini last week, the national and Negri Sembilan squad member said she would skip meals or survive on instant noodles so she could use the money to travel for training.

The eldest of four said she did not want to burden her parents – her father, a part-time electrician, is the sole breadwinner.

Her father, she said, was furious when he found out Nastenska paid RM1,000 to fly to the Commonwealth championship as the government could only subsidise half the ticket price to the venue in India.

The Kuala Lumpur lass borrowed the sum from her coach, and paid back in monthly instalments, using the allowance she received from the Negri Sembilan Sports Council.

Mohana said MIC Youth is also exploring options to assist Nastenska.

“This girl comes from a difficult background. We will help her throughout her study,” Mohana said.