Sabah bowlers break gold drought
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah contingent were all smiles yesterday night as the muchneeded gold boost arrived from the bowling alleys of Ipoh Parade yesterday.
Nevern Netaneel Marcelinus and Nurul Alyssa Junaidi were the stars on the third day of the 19th Malaysia Games (Sukma) where they delivered Sabah’s first two gold medals from the Men’s and Women’s Singles Tenpin Bowling event.
Nevern registered 1289 pinfalls over six rounds of games to finish ahead of Muhammad Hasif Alihanafiah (1274 pins) of Malacca and Muhammad Naqib Che Omar (1265 pins) of Selangor.
Nurul, on the other hand, downed 1273 pins to edge highly favoured Sarawak duo Gillian Lim Siew Aiok and Nur Hazirah Ramli, who accumulated 1259 pinfalls and 1246 pinfalls respectively.
Team manager Mohd Hafiy Aslam Madi @ Omar was a picture of happiness following the stunning victories by Nevern and Nurul.
“We targeted only one gold but not from the individual (singles) competitions... we were expecting it from either the Doubles or Trios events.
“We are extremely happy to be the first to contribute gold to Sabah contingent... not one but two gold medals,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sabah also added one silver and one bronze medal yesterday to bring their total haul to two gold, two silver and three bronze.
In the weightlifting event, Nilcy Tunik, 17, lifted 80kg to win the silver medal in the women’s 48kg Clean & Jerk. She lost to Terengganu’s Nurul Afiqah Muhammad Zamzuri by just one mark.
The bronze medal went to Siti Zaleha Yusup from Pahang (75kg).
Another Sabahan, Fendylina Adim, also competed in the same category. She finished in sixth place with 66kg.
Both Sabahans faced greater challenges in the Snatch, which was won by Zaleha (62kg).
The silver and bronze medals went to Perak’s Nur Syafiqah Athirah Zaridi (61kg) and Nurul Afiqah (60kg) respectively, while Nilcy was fifth (56kg) and Fendylina was eighth (51kg).
Velerick Martin also stood on stage at the Tapah District Council Hall in Batang Padang, yesterday.
Like his other teammates, Velerick represented Tambunan pride but only managed a fifth and eighth place finish in the Clean & Jerk and Snatch of the men’s 56kg category.
However, state lifters will have another chance to try and win gold medals at these games.
They will be banking on Elly Cassandra Engelbert, Marceeta Marylyn Marcus and Caroline Joachim to deliver.
According to team manager Bell Yasoi, all three are slated for gold medals.
Elly and Marceeta, who train in Bukit Jalil, will compete in the women’s 53kg and 58kg respectively, while Caroline, who is based in Tambunan, will battle in the 90kg.
Meanwhile, the judo squad, after contributing two silver and two bronze medals in earlier days, added another bronze medal to the tally.
The Choi sisters, E-Faye and Angeline E-Ann, scored 299 points to finish third in the women’s kata pair.
Penang exponents Siti Nur Aisyah Che Adzmi and Tan Kei Yi won the gold with 325 points, while Tan Je Xi and Toh Wei Qi from Negeri Sembilan won the silver with 301 points.
Elsewhere around the Sukma scene, Sabah beat Sarawak 3-0 in the women’s sepaktakraw team, while the men’s fours beat Kelantan 34-5 in lawn bowls.
In hockey, Sabah beat Negeri Sembilan 2-1 thanks to goals from Abdul Khaliq Hamirin and Muhammad Saifuddin Azli.
Today’s events will see Sabah athletes in action again in boxing, rugby, karate, muay and golf.