Johor athlete wins strongman title
Mohd Arif Mohd Khalil emerged as winner of the Mount Kinabalu Strong Man challenge that concluded in Ranau, recently.
KOTA KINABALU: Mohd Arif Mohd Khalil emerged as winner of the Mount Kinabalu Strong Man challenge that concluded in Ranau, recently.
The Johorian contestant won the inaugural challenge that was held at the Ranau Community Hall in conjunction with the district level Harvest Festival celebrations on May 3-4.
Arif won the title after winning six out of eight classic strong man challenges for a total score of 91 points.
He won the vehicle pull, farmer's walk, tyre flip, car deadlift, yoke walk and Hercules bearhug, and was third in the atlas stone and fourth in the Hercules hold.
Zaki Khan from Selangor who was favourite to win the challenge had to settle for the runnerup spot with 88 points, while Coleman Octovo Maurice from Tambunan was third on 80 points.
George Jailis also from Tambunan was fourth with 57 points, while Rahman Roslan completed the top five with 53.5 points.
The champion received RM2,000, while second and third place winners bagged RM1,500 and RM1,000 respectively. The fourth and fifth place winners walked away with RM700 and RM500.
There were also prizes of RM400, RM300 and RM200 for sixth to eighth place winners, namely Hilary Bruno (Tambunan - 39.5 points), Edward Junior (Penampang – 39 points) and Anthony Fan (Tambunan – 33 points).
Meanwhile, Yasing Balutis stole the limelight when organisers opened the floor to spectators in a special Hercules Hold event that was held during a break in between the challenges.
The local man actually did better than any of the registered contestants who later took part in the same event.
In the Hercules Hold, participants used the grip force of their hands to prevent two cars, each weighing 1,500kg from sliding down opposing ramps.
Yasing managed to withstand the challenge for one minute and 20 seconds to earn praises from Ranau Member of Parliament Jonathan Yasin.
Coleman, who was the top contestant in the challenge, only registered 59 seconds.
Impressed with the competition, Jonathan vowed to make the Mount Kinabalu Strong Man Challenge an annual event for the district.
Tournament coordinator Roger Frederick thanked Jonathan for his support.
Roger also thanked the sponsors and other supporters including SASAwater and Celcom as well as AtukoiFM which was led by DJ Othoe, who helped make the event more lively and successful.