T’ganu royal touch sparks M’sia gold rush
Malaysia got a royal boost from Sultan Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin who spearheaded a clean sweep of the two golds in the equestrian 80km endurance race flagged off in his home state just hours a er a dazzling opening of the 29th SEA Games.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia got a royal boost from Sultan Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin who spearheaded a clean sweep of the two golds in the equestrian 80km endurance race flagged off in his home state just hours after a dazzling opening of the 29th SEA Games.
The feat by His Highness, taking part in the Games for his first time, sparked an adrenaline rush to boost the day’s takings to nine golds so far, more than doubling Malaysia’s tally to 16 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze with Malaysia still in the fight for the artistic gymnastic men’s team event that finished later last night.
Singapore are in second place with six golds currently followed by Thailand with five. Indonesia and Vietnam three and the Philippines one.
National pugilists dominated with three of five gold medals at stake on the first day of wushu. Young kegler Muhd Rafiq Ismail, synchronised swimming queens Zylane Lee Yhing Huey and Gan Hua Wei, netball and the men’s rugby team lobbed one each into the kitty.
While the nation was still in slumber, Sultan Mizan and his team were lining up for the 3am flag off at the Terengganu International Endurance Park in Setiu.
Wearing competitor number 111 and riding Rtes Annaversary, His Highness finished the course in 3:48:38s for the individual gold and also lifted the team to first place with a total of 11:31:30s, both in record breaking achievements.
Sultanah of Terengganu Sultanah Nur Zahirah who witnessed the flag off by their son, Raja Muda of Terengganu, Tengku Muhammad Ismail Sultan Mizan, presented the gold medal to her husband and medals to the other winners at the venue.
Amid loud cheers in the Juara Stadium back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia expectedly wrested back the netball gold, thrashing defending champions Singapore 65-41. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was there to cheer the team and later presented the medals to the players captained by Nur Syafazliyana Mohd Ali.
Najib then went to the Kelana Jaya Stadium to join hoards of fans who were rewarded with a rousing 65-41 victory by Malaysia over Singapore for the men’s rugby 7s gold to close the twoday competition. The national women’s team settled for the bronze beating the Philippines 7-5.
I n wushu, Malaysia collected three golds and three bronzes. Debutante Yeap Wai Kin, a former world junior double champion, would have made his idol and Hong Kong kungfu film star Jet Li proud in winning the men’s jianshu (sword) by a close margin over teammate Wong Weng Son.
Loh Jack Chang collected his third ever SEA Games gold, moving from silver two years ago to gold yesterday in the taijijian (straight sword) while 31-yearold Diang Bong, appearing in her sixth and final Games, had a great start in taking the nanquan gold she had won three times before.
At the National Aquatic Centre, Zylane Lee Yhing Huey and solo technical gold medallist Gan Hua Wei were in scintillating form to win Malaysia’s second gold in synchronised swimming. The Malaysian pair who had been partners for a year amassed 76.3000 points in the duet free routine event to pip arch rivals Miya Yong Hsing and Debbie Soh Li Fei of Singapore to the gold. Malaysia took the silver in the free routine team event.
Young kegler Muhd Rafiq Ismail defended his singles title and made it a 1-2 finish with team-mate Adrian Ang, overshadowing their women’s counterparts, Sin Li Jane and veteran Shalin Zulkifli, who took the silver and bronze behind Singapore’s Cherie Tan Shi Hua .
Today, the competition fever will go into overdrive with 25 golds to be settled and the swimming programme opens with six gold medals with its biggest draw Singapore’s Rio Olympic champion Joseph Schooling and Malaysia’s Welson Sim going into action.
Schooling, winner of nine gold two years ago and taking part in only six this time, is down for the 50m butterfly and Sim defends the 400m freestyle .
At the Shah Alam Stadium, Malaysia will face Myanmar needing just one point to grab a ticket from Group A into the men’s football semifinal. Myanmar have already qualified into the last four while Malaysia, unbeaten in two matches, still have a last match against Laos on Wednesday.
Six golds will be claimed on the second day of wushu and Malaysia are expected to do well again. Diana Bong is seeking a second gold in the nandao and nangun events. - Bernama