Basma Lachkar

Basma Lachkar (born 25 March 2003) is a Bruneian wushu athlete of Moroccan descent specializing in tai chi.

Early life and education
Lachkar was born to a Moroccan father and Bruneian mother. She attended Chung Hwa Middle School taking up wushu initially as a school co-curricular activity to join her brother, Walid Lachkar. In October 2022, Hajah Rosnah binti Awang Tengah, her mother, passed away. Notably, she graduated Jerudong International School (JIS) in class 2022, and Sports School from 2016 to 2019.

Career
Lachkar would eventually become part of Brunei's wushu national team which has been under Chinese coach Li Hui since 2006. In the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on 22 August 2017, she became victorious in the Women's Compulsory Taijiquan finals of the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with a score of 9.54 points. She is 1.6 meters tall in 2023. She hasn't become much taller since 2018, the year she participated in her maiden Asian Games as a 15-year-old. She did not clinch a podium finish in her usual tai chi event due to inexperience.

Lachkar was part of the first group from Brunei to travel to the 19th Sukma Games 2018, which took place from 12 to 22 September in Perak. On 30 November 2019, in the Philippines, she had the honor of carrying the Brunei flag at the 30th SEA Games opening ceremony. In the women's taijiquan event, Lachkar, the youngest competitor in her division, won silver for the second time in a row at the SEA Games with a score of 9.55.

Competing in the tai chi event, Lachkar would set several milestones for her country's national wushu program. At the 2022 World Games in Birmingham in the United States, she would win the first ever gold medal for Brunei in the tournament. With a total score of 19.040 points, she placed first on the podium in the women's combined taijiquan and taijijian event.

In the following 2022 edition in Huangzhou, Lachkar would see success when she bagged Brunei's first ever Asian Games silver medalist in any sports. She is the Asian Games' flag bearer for Brunei as well. She achieved 9.756 points for a total of 19.502, which was sufficient for a silver medal. Additionally, it was her nation's first medal at the Asian Games since Tong Kit Siong in 2002.

In the women's taijijian competition at the World University Games, Lachkar came in second. Silver was hers when she scored a total of 9.680 points at the Chengbei Gymnasium in Chengdu. From this, she also became the first recipient of Brunei's special sports scholarship program.

Following her victory in the Women's Optional Taijijian event at the 2024 University Wushu Championship in Harbin, China, Basma has continued to shine on the global scene. She beat Japan's Hibiki Isono, who scored 9.5003, to take first place with a score of 9.510 after her performance.

Honours and recognitions
A road at Kampong Pulaie Sports School would officially be renamed Basma Drive in November 2023.

For the 2023 World Games Athlete of the Year, Basma has received a nomination. This comes after she won the women's taijiquan and taijijian combined event in the World Games 2022.