Sabah athletes shine at Thailand Masters C’ships
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah team of 27 Masters athletes bagged 12 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals from the just concluded Thailand Masters Athletics Open Championships in Lampang, about 100 kilometres south of Chiang Mai.
Juliana Gumpil was the toast of the Sabah team when she struck gold in the triple jump, 100-metre dash, long jump and 80-metre hurdles.
Juliana’s outstanding performance also won her the the Champion of Champions Trophy.
Another Asian Masters gold medallist, Tay Yu Eng was among the athletes to take home two golds. She won the javelin and discus events.
Haji Tarmizi Sandhu also won gold in shot put and the discus throw and a silver medal in javelin.
Hurdles mishaps however cost Aliudin Jumaat a double gold showing in the championship.
Aliudin took an unprecedented fall in the 100-metre hurdles event thus depriving Sabah from collecting their 13th gold medal.
True to his tag as the favourite for the event, Aliudin was leading from the start before the mishap struck, which saw him suffer a minor cut on his palm and scratches on the right knee.
He did not go home empty handed however as he won won gold in the high jump event.
The other medallists for Sabah were Shamry Mohd Ali with a gold in the 100m hurdles and bronze in 400m hurdles; Saidi Kailu (high jump gold and silver in long jump and triple jump); Vironica Elau (5000m walk gold); Lucy Yong (silver in 200m and triple jump and bronzes in 100m and long jump); Christina Labanjing (silver in 100m, triple jump and high jump); Cecilia Maksimon (long jump silver and 1500m bronze); Abd Rashid Matajam (5000m walk silver, 5000m bronze); Errol Oddie (discus throw silver); Jessie Manjin (shot put silver); Lanny Jikut (5000m walk and shot put silver); Norman Leong (shot put bronze); and Margaret Petrus (long jump bronze).
There were about 1500 athletes from all provinces in Thailand and 12 international teams that took part in the championships.
Meanwhile, Aliudin, who is also Sabah Masters Athletics Association (Samas) president, said response for the Sabah Masters Athletics Open Championships (SAMOC) here from April 28-29 has been encouraging.
“We expect more entries before the closing date on March 20. I’m positive the target of surpassing the 500 participants is achievable,” he said in statement yesterday.
To elevate SAMOC to be on par with other international championships, all the track events will be using electronic timings, he added.
Aliudin also reminded that the entry for the 4x100m relay invitation for the age group categories (men and women) for below 20 years, 20-29 years and 30-34 years are limited to 30 teams only.