Sabah falter in Sukma campaign kick-off
KOTA KINABALU: A costly mistake denied Sabah a winning start in their 19th Malaysia Games (Sukma) campaign on Sunday night.
The Sukma 2016 bronze medallists initially looked good to secure the three points but were forced to settle for a 2-2 outcome in their Group C opening game against Malacca at the Parit Buntar synthetic pitch.
Malacca had taken a 15th minute lead through Muhd Nur Afzar Fikri Azhar but Sabah came back strongly with a brace from Ariusdius Jais.
The forward equalised with a confident finish, directing the ball into the back of the net after receiving a cross in the 28th minute. The first half ended 1-1. Ariusdius was again in the thick of the action when he sneaked into the box to connect a cross and scored to put Sabah 2-1 up on 53rd minute.
Despite the narrow lead, the Johnny Dominicus-coached side looked comfortable throughout but their good work were undone in the 72nd minute.
Muhammad Faizal Talib relieved a Sabah player of the ball before slotting it past goalkeeper Mohd Sakri Masri.
“It all seemed to be favouring Sabah (after going in front) but one mistake was all it needed to prevent us a winning start.
“One of our players lost possession inside the box and it left our goalkeeper (Sakri) in a one-on-one situation with the Malacca player (Faizal).
“It was not the result that we had hoped for but this is football. I hope the team will give a positive response in our last group fixtures against Penang (to advance into the quarter-finals),” team manager Benedict Asmat said yesterday.
Sabah must win their final game against Penang on September 13 to be assured of finishing in the top two of the three-team Group C and thus winning a place in the last eight.
For the record, the Sabah football team were the bronze medallists in 2016 and even better, gold medallists four years earlier in Pahang.
Sabah’s footballers are targeting gold in the Perak Sukma.
In the badminton Team event, Sabah’s women were eliminated from the race to the knock-out rounds after suffering their third straight defeat in Group A.
After consecutive narrow 23 defeats to Penang and Johor respectively on the first day of badminton competition on Sunday, the state women squad lost 0-5 to Perak at the Perak Badminton Arena at MBI Sports Complex yesterday.
First singles Arena Satu Samin, who had won her two previous group matches, lost to Lee Ying Ying 15-21, 9-21 while Fong Yii Zhi/Petricia Eleng Samin lost to Desiree Siow/Valerie Siow 14-21, 13-21 in the first doubles.
Leonilla Alauni Molin’s 10-21, 9-21 defeat at the hands of Eoon Qi Xuan in the second singles all but confirmed Perak victory in the match.
Sabah’s hope to at least make the score respectable did not materialise as Maya Shakina Subarto/Nur Hazwani Hanapi lost to Chew Jia Hui/Chew Jia Wern 13-21, 16-21 while Velerry Yap Ka Ying lost to Nur Ernisa Alysa Zainal Abidin.
Sabah’s women are left with one game to play in Group C against Kedah today.
The men’s team, on the other hand, also suffered 0-5 defeat to Penang yesterday but the door is still open for them to get into the knock-out rounds after winning their opening game 3-2 against Terengganu a day earlier.
Against Penang strengthened by many national players, the state juniors were just no match as Datu Mohd Shah Eizlan Sardik lost 16-21, 13-21 to Yeoh Seng Zoe while Eddrak Atek Deavis/Yap Qar Siong lost to Ng Eng Cheong/Sim Fong Hau 1521, 14-21.
Goh Ting Yu, whose gallant performance in the third singles game delivered Sabah’s winning point against Terengganu, could repeat his feat.
Playing as the second singles this time around, Ting Yu lost 13-21, 11-21 to hand Penang an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Muhammad Yasrin S. Ruslan/ Muhammad Zuhaily Jablin went down 14-21, 15-21 to Ching Kai Feng/Choong Hon Jian and Ling Dai Hau lost to Cheam June Wei 14-21, 15-21.
With one win and a defeat, Sabah face a must-win match against another tough opponent in Federal Territory on September 12 if they harbour hopes of making it into the next round.
Mewanwhile, Sabah Sports Council director Terrance Pudin informed that a meeting was held last night to discuss the fate of the state Sukma futsal teams.
Several players from the women’s and men’s squad were down with suspected respiratory tract infections and the results of the tests conducted were supposed to be out yesterday.
“There will be a meeting tonight (last night)...will update after that,” he texted.
Sabah with 424 athletes (235 male, 189 female) have set a 40gold target from the 23 sports they have entered in Sukma that Perak will host from September 12 to 22.