Valiant Iskandar goes down fighting
SINGAPORE capitalised on poor batting by Malaysia to capture the Sea Games men’s Twenty20 gold medal with a three-wicket win at the Kinrara Oval yesterday.
After restricting Malaysia to a paltry 117 runs for seven in 20 overs, Singapore reached 118-7 with one ball to spare and avenge their 50-overs defeat to the hosts last week.
Riza Altaff Hussein scored three fours in his unbeaten 37 to lead Singapore to the win after surviving a few close calls near the end. SEA GAMES debutant Muhammad Iskandar Zulkanain Ahmad can hold his head high despite settling for a silver in taekwondo’s kyorugi event at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games (KL2017) yesterday.
Iskandar fought valiantly but was unable to match his much more experienced opponent in the 58kg class decider, Olympic silver medallist Tawin Hanprab of Thailand.
Tawin secured a 33-7 win at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Iskandar said he had only expected to win a bronze on his maiden Sea Games appearance.
“I like challenges and I always give my best even when my opponent is much stronger and more experienced than I am,” said the 20-yearold.
“It was not my time to win gold yet today but you never know, maybe in two years’ time I can beat him (Hanprab) as this was only my first time in the Sea Games.”
Iskandar had beaten Nilton Gilman Corte Real De Jesus Lemos of Timor Leste 33-22 in the semi-finals.
Teammate Nur Dhia Liyana Shaharuddin suffered a similar fate in the women’s 49kg class final where she lost 39-1 to Olympic bronze medallist and former world champion Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand. Mohd Khairie Khalid when Dhivendran Mogan had Anish Paraam caught by Anwar Rahman for four with his fifth delivery but that was as good as it got.
Navin Param scored 29 runs before he was out to Shukri Rahim and Anwar Rahman then dismissed Rezza Gaznavi for seven as the Malaysian bowlers worked their way through the Singapore batting line-up.
As tension mounted entering the final over with three runs needed for the win, Hussein maintained his composure to score the winning run off the penultimate ball. Devinder Singh