Sarawak climb to fourth with six more gold medals
IPOH: Sarawak stepped up a gear in the hunt for gold medals yesterday with six coming from taekwondo, athletics, diving, archery and artistic gymnastics.
Queenie Tin gKung Ni delivered the first gold when she won the women’s discus event with a throw of 43.77m at the Perak Stadium.
Int aekwondo, Sarawak started strongly with two gold and one silver on the first day of competition.
They made a clean sweep of the gold medals in the men’s and women’s poomsae individual through Augustine Rudy Grocer and Nurul Hidayah Abdul Karim.
Augustine scored 7.73 points to beat William Kek Wai Kuin of Selangor and Sabah’s Hadin Ismagol who scored 7.45 points and 7.25 points.
N ur Hi day ah collected 7.82 points to finish ahead of Selangor’s Cheong Pui Yien ( 7.64) and Perak’s Chon Ann Yuen (7.42).
Augustine and Nur Hidayah missed the gold in the mixed doubles poomsae after losing by a mere 0.16 point to the Selangor pair of Brian Yam Ju Sheng and Chew Pek Wen who scored 7.72. Johor’s Chee Zhi Sheng and Tie Yu Jun came in third with 7.49.
Alya Sof iya Abdul Razak, Audrey Jude Rendih Alexander, Cassandra Lavigne Shelden and Damya Dameerah Suhaimi sprang a major surprise when they captured the women’s artistic gymnastics team gold at the Indera Mulia Stadium with a score of 177 points.
The silver went to Kuala Lumpur (173.25) while Pahang (168.30) took the bronze.
“Yes, it was definitely a surprise result considering that we were against the odds.
“Our gymnasts were performing against the national gymnasts from Kuala Lumpur and strong teams like Pahang and Penang,” said assistant chef- de-mission for artistic gymnastics Datin Mary Sadiah Zainuddin.
At Univer sit iTek no logi Petronas, Amber Francesca Naja Edwin claimed her second gold medal in the archery competition when she posted 339 points in the 50m compound women’s individual ahead of I man Aisya Norazam of Melaka and Nuraqilah Khairul of Johor.
Esther Yong Yin Zeal so contributed a bronze after finishing third int he30m compound women’s individual.
In the diving competition at the Tuanku Zara Aquatic Centre, MBI Sports Complex, national diver Kimberly Bong Qian Ping and
Our gymnasts were performing against the national gymnasts from Kuala Lumpur and strong teams like Pahang and Penang.
teammate Eilisha Rania Abrial Rajagopal successfully defended their women’s synchronised 10m platform title when they scored 274.05 points.
Selangor’s Koh Hui Yan and Lim Min were second with 222.06 while the Sabah pair of Nur Ain Nadzmi and Nurfazriyanti Jali finished third with 213.51.
Late on Sunday night, Sarawak snatched two gold medals. Keglers Gillian Lim paired with Abang Afiq Yazid to win the mixed doubles event. A second gold came from the men’s team regu in pencak silat.
As at 10pm yesterday, Sarawak have climbed up to fourth place in the medals table with 17 golds, 11 silvers and 26 bronze medals. Terengganu ( 24- 22- 22) are still leading fol lowed by Kuala Lumpur ( 21-14- 20) and Penang (17-14-11).
Datin Mary Sadiah Zainuddin, assistant chef-demission for artistic gymnastics