Rebecca rewarded

the Perpaduan Indoor Stadium in Petra Jaya.

“At first, I felt really nervous but I tried my best to adapt to the situation and kept reminding myself that I could not lose this fight,” said the SMK Petra Jaya

GOLDEN GIRL: Self-motivation steers her to flyweight title

student.

“I missed six months of school to train in Thailand for this tournament and I constantly reminded myself of all the sacrifices I made.

“It feels great to win, especially as this is my first Malaysia Games. I would like to dedicate this gold medal to my parents as well as all the people of Sarawak.”

With the state celebrating Sarawak Day for the first time, S. Monica Sharma gave the home crowd more reason to cheer as she delivered the second gold for the state.

Monica downed Sabah’s Christina Clara 11-5 in the finweight final to see Sarawak emerging overall winners of the taekwondo competition with eight gold, three silver and three bronze.

The 18-year-old said she did not expect to win the gold.

“I have to thank my coach and all those who have supported me as they really gave me the motivation to do well here,” said Monica, who is of Iban-Indian parentage.

The men’s finals saw Federal Territories’ Danial Mohd Azri clinching the finweight title with a 13-7 win over Pahang’s Faiz Rozi while Perlis’ Sukri Omar Sidek took the flyweight gold after downing FT’s Haziq Arisi 11-7.