Keningau maintain lead
KOTA KINABALU: Keningau lead an unchanged top three contingents in the VIII Sabah Games (SAGA) overall standings as of 6:30pm yesterday.
A total of 15 gold, 15 silver and 27 bronze medals were up for grabs but not one contingent can lay claim to have dominated yesterday’s competition.
Early pacesetters Keningau remained on top with 11 gold, five silver and three bronze medals while Tawau followed with five gold, 11 silver and seven bronze and Kota Kinabalu with five gold, two silver and eight bronze.
Papar, however, moved up to fourth with four gold, three silver and four bronze while Tuaran dropped a rung to fifth with two gold, one silver and four bronze.
Tambunan remained sixth with two gold, one silver and four bronze but it was Putatan and Tenom who made the biggest leap from 16th and 15th to seventh and eighth respectively in the medal standings.
Putatan collected two gold and four bronzes while Tenom got two gold and three bronze. Completing the top 10 were Beaufort with two gold and hosts Sandakan with one gold, four silver and five bronze.
Meanwhile, in football, hosts Sandakan were denied a place in the men’s football semi-finals no thanks to their inferior goals scored against Tuaran.
The teams collected four points each in Group B but with both having a plus one goals difference, the goals scored come into play with Tuaran netting five times at the end of the group stage, one more than Sandakan.
Kinabatangan, who had earlier secured their semi-final berth despite losing 0-2 to Sandakan yesterday, will advance as the group winners.
Kinabatangan will face Group A runners-up Nabawan while Tuaran will take on Group A winners Kota Kinabalu in the semi-finals.
In women’s football, Penampang advanced as the Group B winners after going undefeated in three matches.
They will be joined by Tongod who finished with six points, thus eliminating the other teams in the group Sandakan and Sipitang.
In Group A, defending champions Tenom also progressed without much problems as they edged closer to retaining their gold and will take on Tongod in the semi-finals.
However, Penampang will have to wait for their opponents in the last four after Kota Marudu and Tuaran finished on four points and with identical statistics for goal scored and conceded.
It was learnt that a meeting will be conducted today to discuss the unique situation, leaving Kota Marudu and Tuaran to face an anxious moment as they fight for the one remaining semi-final slot from Group A.