Target on her back

Nur Shazrin dreams of another gold despite being a marked woman

NATIONAL sailor Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif believes that she’s a marked woman.

The 19-year-old became Malaysia’s first woman sailor to compete in the Olympics when she finished 33rd out of 37 participants in the Laser Radial event in Rio de Janeiro last year.

The teenager had also marked her SEA Games debut by winning the Laser Radial individual and team gold medals at the Singapore SEA Games in 2015.

Those two achievements, she believes, have made her the sailor to beat at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, which will be held from Aug 19-30.

The sailing events will be held at the National Sailing Centre in Langkawi from Aug 21-29.

Marked or not, Nur Shazrin has set her mind on defending her gold medals at the home Games.

“I won two gold medals in my first SEA Games outing in Singapore. It won’t be easy to repeat the feat because sailors from the other countries know me well now that I’ve taken part in several international competi- tions,” she said.

“I have been working hard in training to improve myself. I hope to be at the top of my game when competition begins.

“As the Games get nearer, I’m getting a bit more nervous.

“But I guess that’s only normal and I should be okay once competition begins.

“Competing in the Rio Olympics was an eye opener for me. The experience has certainly made me a better sailor.”

Nur Shazrin expects sailors from Singapore, who bagged 10 golds in the Games two years ago, and Thailand to be Malaysia’s biggest threats in the KL Games.

The Pasir Gudang local will be banking on home ground advantage to defend her gold medals as she’s been training at the National Sailing Centre in Langkawi for the past four years.

“We do have home advantage as we are basically racing in our backyard. But then again, the sailors from the other countries have also competed in Langkawi before.

“They would have done their homework before coming here,” said Nur Shazrin.

Tough or not, Nur Shazrin is ready to give her best and make Malaysia proud.

Medal hopefuls: Sailing duo Norashikin Mohamad Sayed (left) and Nuraisyah Jamil will be depended upon again after their gold-medal feat in the women’s 470 event at the 2015 Singapore Games.