Sukma athletes shine in Perak All-Comers
Sabah’s Malaysia Games (Sukma) athletes put up convincing displays at the Perak All-Comers I Athle cs Championship that ended at the TLDM Stadium in Lumut on Sunday.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s Malaysia Games (Sukma) athletes put up convincing displays at the Perak All-Comers I Athletics Championship that ended at the TLDM Stadium in Lumut on Sunday.
The state squad bagged four gold, four silver and two bronze medals from the two-day championship.
Andre Anura Qanuar, a gold prospect in the 2018 Sukma that Perak will host in September, won the men’s long jump gold with a personal best of 7.51m.
Mohd Alif Mohd Razi was equally impressive in the men’s javelin with his golden throw of 57.08s while Raymond Yew Ling Tung enhanced his status as a two-lap sprint specialist by winning the men’s 800m in 1:59.55s.
Marlin Hing William also did well to win the women’s 1,500m in a time of 5:14.95s.
The silver medals were won in the men’s shot put with Brynoth Alarick Larry setting a personal best of 13.91m, Andre in the triple jump event (14.42m), Nur Aishah Rofina Aling in the women’s 100m (12.96s) and the men’s 4x400m quartet (3:23.23s).
As for the bronzes, the winners were Chealsea Cassiopea Evaii Bopulas in the women’s 100m (13.03s) and Nur Aishah in the women’s 200m (26.25s).
Two other athletes also set a personal best in the championships namely Riksi Tahir and Mohd Arif Farhan Ali.
Riksi finished sixth in the men’s 400m final but not after clocking a best time of 49.72s while Arif clocked 11.06s en route to winning his 100m semifinal heat. The latter however missed out on the final.
Sabah’s hope for a good outing in Sukma was also boosted by Benedict Ian Gawok’s win in the men’s 110m hurdles in 14.73s, although he competed under the Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) in the All-Comers meet.
Team manager Ali Aman hailed the state Sukma athletes for giving it their best in the meet.
“All the athletes tried very hard to achieve glory, just like our principle of to ‘Go For Gold’.
“We got the best achievement in the Perak Open and we hope that our Sukma team will shine better in the Perak Sukma,” he texted yesterday.
For chief coach Dzulfikar Ag. Anak, the Perak All-Comers meet showed the athletes are showing positive progress as they geared up for the September Games.
“Although we are not yet a full squad, the positive signs are there that Sabah would provide the strongest challenges to host Perak in the race for gold in athletics.
“The Perak All-Comers meet is a good start in our preparation towards Sukma 2018,” Dzulfikar texted.
For the record, Sabah sent 14 male and four females athletes to the Perak All-Comers meet accompanied by three officials including coach Mario Pajarillo.