LOH AND DIANA DELIVER:
Loh Jack Chang (second left) and Diana Bong Siong Lin from Sarawak gave Malaysia a golden start in the wushu competition of SEA Games 2017 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) yesterday as the national team won three gold and three silver medals on Day 1. Loh won the men’s taijijian event while Diana was first in the women’s nanquan. Yeap Wai Kin, who is from Penang, won the third gold for Malaysia in the men’s jianshu. Celebrating with Loh and Diana are (from right) Wushu Federation of Malaysia (WFM) president and also Wushu Federation of Sarawak (WFS) president Allen Wong,WFS deputy president James Ting and WFM/WFS secretary William Kong.
KUCHING: Loh Jack Chang and Diana Bong Siong Lin from Sarawak gave Malaysia a flying start in wushu competition of the 29th SEA Games at KLCC Convention Centre yesterday as the national team chalked up three gold and three silver medals on the first day of action.
It was Yeap Wai Kin from Penang who started the ball rolling when he delivered the first gold after he garnered 9.67 points in the men’s jianshu.
Wong Weng Son made it a 12 finish for Malaysia with 9.65 points while the bronze medal went to Fung Jin Jie of Singapore who scored 9.48 points.
Jack Chang won the men’s taijijian with 9.67 points and 0.02 points behind him in second place was Bobie Valentinus Gunawan of Indonesia while the bronze medallist was Chan Jun Kai of Singapore with 9.62 points.
Diana Bong finally broke her SEA Games gold drought to win the women’s nanquan with 9.66 points, with the silver and bronze going to Aye Thitsar Myint of Myanmar ( 9.64) and Nguyen Thuc Anh of Vietnam ( 9.63) respectively.
The other two silver medals were contributed by Phoon Eyin who scored 9.63 points in the women’s jianshu behing the gold medallist from Vietnam Duong Thuy Vi who scored 9.67 points, and Loh Ying Ting in the women’s gunshu where she posted 9.63 points, losing to Hoang Thi Phuong Giang of Vietnam while third was Indonesia’s Felda Elvira Santoso with 9.62 points.
Wushu Federation of Sarawak ( WFS) deputy president James Ting, who was a technical official in the competition, had praises for the two Sarawak gold medallists.
“Jack Chang and Diana Bong did very well today to bag gold in their respective events even though they faced very stiff competitions from their rivals.
“The Malaysian wushu camp is very delighted as we have achieved today’s target of three gold medals which is also half of the six- gold for this SEA Games,” he said.
According to him, seven more gold medals are up for grabs on Day 2 (Aug 21) and five more golds on the final day (Aug 22).