Personal goals achieved

DOUBLES pair Saiful Bahri Musmin and Syed Ahmad Fikri Syed Ali notched an emotional victory in the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games (KL2017) petanque competition when both achieved long awaited personal goals.

The duo were unstoppable at the KL Petanque

Arena in Pudu Ulu yesterday as they whitewashed Thailand’s Piyabut Chamchoi and Sunchai Chueanchuea 13-0 to clinch the doubles gold.

The win saw Saiful ending a decade-long wait for gold while Ahmad made good on his promise to win a gold to his late grandfather, who passed away when he was competing in the Singapore Games two years ago.

“I was told my grandfather had passed away the night before I was due to play in Singapore (2015),” said Ahmad.

“He had earlier told me that he wanted to see me win the gold and I have finally done it now. This win is for my family.

“I competed in the triples in Singapore and only won silver so moving to the doubles has definitely been worthwhile for me.”

Saiful, however, did not expect the final to be so one-sided.

“I have competed in various (petanque) disciplines and today (yesterday), I finally managed to win the gold,” said Saiful.

“But I did not expect the final to be like this, usually it is always a very close affair.”

Muhd Hafizuddin Mat Daud had earlier this week delivered the first gold for the petanque squad by successfully defending his men’s singles title. Mohd Fitrie Muhamad