Sabah deliver golden performance
Sabah returned with a combined haul of four gold, three silver and 12 bronze medals in the Na onal Ar s c Gymnas cs & SportsExcel-NSC-MILO-MGF Championships.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah returned with a combined haul of four gold, three silver and 12 bronze medals in the National Artistic Gymnastics & SportsExcel-NSCMILO-MGF Championships.
Senior athletes Mohd Adzre Mohd Nasir and Mohd Hamzahrudin Nordin were the toast of the squad for having a hand in three of the gold medals won at the championships, which ended at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
“Very good results,” team manager Liew Tong Ee said via WhatsApp here yesterday.
Adzre and Hamzahrudin delivered gold winning performances in the Boy’s Senior Individual Overall and Rings events respectively.
The duo also teamed up with Ammar Zafi Mohd Firdaus, Lazarus Phillip Junius and Jacob Hezron Andreas to claim the coveted Boys’ Senior Team Gold.
There were more reasons to celebrate as the state squad also bagged the Team gold in the Boys’ Junior event through Charlie Rrichie Chong, Albert Wong Wui Pin, Hirzi Bariqi Yaakob, Sharif Ruzaimi Syirazi Syarif Rodizin and Liew Jun Xiang.
The silver medallists were from the Girls’ Junior Team event (Felicity Grace Sew Pei En, Ammanda Wong Yeah Chean, Nur Farisha Atiqah Shuaili, Jennessia Juniol, Jill Avie Horatio, Cherfie Resie Chong), Zafi (Boys’ Senior Individual Overall) and Adzre (Boys’ Senior Floor Exercise).
As for the bronze medals, the winners included the Girls’ PreJunior Team Event through Nicole Wong Li Jing, Elvinna Johanes, Tan Mui Kun, Natalie Yapp Qian Tong, Nur Izreeen Dayana Zaini and Bethany Estelle Vun.
The rest were Charlie (Boys’ Junior Individual Overall), Sharif (Boys’ Junior Individual Overall), Albert (Boys’ Junior Individual Overall), Felicity (Girls’ Junior Vault), Lazarus (Boys’ Senior Individual Overall), Jacob (Boys’ Senior Individual Overall), Zafi (Boys’ Senior Parallel Bars), Jennesia (Girls’ Junior Uneven Bars) and three from Adzre (Boys’ Senior Pommel Horse, Rings, Horizontal Bar).
Tong Ee believed that the medal count could have been higher had Abdul Izzat Daniel, Chin Mei Ying and the pick of the state artistic gymnast Brandon Denoley Luise been available.
“The trio who are in our Sukma (Malaysia Games) list could not make the championships as they had to focus on their SPM exam,” said the team manager.
Meanwhile, Tong Ee hoped that the achievement could pave the way for artistic gymnastics to be included in Sabah’s 2018 Sukma contingent.
“The team did well where everyone returned home with medals, especially our boys’ team winning both Team events and the girls’ juniors comprising Sukma 2018 trainees winning a silver.
“Hopefully, our gymnastic team will be selected for our Sukma 2018 squad,” he said.
Having said that, Tong Ee also expressed thanks to the National and Sabah Sports Council, Sabah Gymnastics Association and parents for their continuous support of the sport.
For the record, the coaches for the state squad to the national championship were Loy Billy, Noraini Jamlan, Zamri Din and Azri Omar.