Sabahan aiming for Gold at Worldskills Abu Dhabi 2017
KOTA KINABALU: Marinsun Lanun, 21, is aiming for gold for Malaysia and Sabah in the upcoming Worldskills Abu Dhabi 2017 competition at the United Arab Emirates next month.
“I am striving for gold for the country, for the state, for myself, my family and for my school, the Akademi Binaan Malaysia (Sabah Region),” he said to reporters when met at ABM near here yesterday.
The seventh out of eight siblings who hailed from Kota Marudu said that he will do his best in the competition where he will be competing with other participants from other countries in the Wall and Floor Tiling category.
“I feel confident,” he expressed, stating that he has undergone many hours of preparatory trainings to get him through the event.
He added that the modules for the competition had already been disseminated to all the contestants in his category and he has been practising the steps that would enable him to complete each module within the set timeframe.
Failure to do so will result in low scoring disqualification, he said.
“I have prepared myself mentally and physically. I also practised several strategies and ways to approach the modules because having just one strategy is not enough. Aside from that, I also work on improving my stamina,” he said.
Marinsun then mentioned that wall and floor tiling was not something new to him.
“My family lives in hardship. My father does village work, while my mother is a housewife who is busy looking after the entire family. I have a cousin who reeked a living doing wall and floor tiling and with zero knowledge. I started following him around and helping out just to earn some money,” he said.
Originally, he dreamt of becoming a cook, he said, but the hardship in life has made him shift his interest to something else – construction specifically in wall and floor tiling.
“Moreover, all my friends were already making a living and have moved elsewhere. This made me want to find my own strategy and improve my own life,” he said.
He added that wall and f loor tiling attracted him because the venture would allow him to become his own boss.
With merely his PMR qualification, he joined ABM in 2015 with the intention of further improving his skills in wall and floor tiling.
“Not many people know that they can apply to enter the academy and that they offer various fields of construction skills competency training. You don’t necessarily have to select tiling. There are other fields offered,” he said.
The Worldskills competition is one of the largest vocational skills competitions in the world and is held once every two years.
This year, the event is held in Abu Dhabi, which is a first in the Middle East.
Contestants who are between 23 and 25 years old from 77 countries, including Malaysia, are participating in the competition where they will have to show their technical skills to carry out special tasks that have been identified.
There are 51 categories in the competition, among them, bricklaying, carpentry, electrical installation and others, including wall and floor tiling, which Marinsun is taking part in.
The competition will be taking place between October 14 and 19.
Prior to being selected, Marinsun underwent a Worldskills competition selection which was carried out from March 6 to 9. Two trainees from ABM were selected to represent the country and they comprise Marinsun, who would be competing in the Wall and Floor Tiling category and Muhammad Zulkif li Sahdan, 20, from Johor who would be contesting in the Painting and Decorating category.
Meanwhile, Marinsun’s trainer, Jasni Idris said that his protégé will be competing with 26 other people of different nationalities during the competition.
He said that all are given three modules and must complete them in 22 hours.
He also said that contestants should expect about 30 percent alteration from the modules they have been given during the actual competition.
“Hence training is crucial so that they will know how to make adjustments,” he said.
The contestants would be assessed based on their measurement, dimension, alignment, cutting, accuracy and on the safety precautions they have taken, he said.
ABM Sabah region’s Chief Operating Officer, Tadzul Radim, when met, said that they felt proud that ABM would be representing the country to Abu Dhabi..
“We have created skill trainees capable of competing at the international arena,” he said.
He added that in 2013, ABM also took part in the Worldskills competition in Leipzig, Germany.
With regards to Marinsun’s upcoming departure to Abu Dhabi for the competition, Tadzul hoped that he will bring home a medal, most preferably a gold.
“To my knowledge, Malaysia has never won a gold so if that happens, it will be a momentous and historical event for ABM, for Malaysia and for Sabah,” he said.