Sabah athletics squad settle for two gold
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah ended the 19th Malaysia Games (Sukma) athletics competition by adding one gold, two silver and four bronze medals yesterday.
The final day haul brought the Sabah athletics squad’s overall medal collection to two gold, six silver and eight bronze.
However, the squad fell short of their desired five gold target, although it was not all doom and gloom for them.
Team manager Ali Aman revealed he was still proud of the athletes despite failing to hit the target.
“Despite failing to get the fivegold target, I’m still happy and satisfied with the total medals collection.
“I’m saying that because our athletes, especially those who won silver and bronze, achieved their personal best.
“For that, I want to thank all the athletes for giving their fullest commitment right from our preparation to competing in the Sukma.
“We will work even harder for the next Sukma,” he said yesterday.
The men’s 4x400m relay team of Shahrimien Saimoh, Riksi Tahir, Tonga Jody Edmund and Zaidie Khani Kanisus provided the cheers for the squad yesterday by winning the gold.
The state quartet clocked 3:14.42s to beat the challenge of Selangor (3:14.79s) and Terengganu (3:15.48s), who settled for silver and bronze respectively.
The two silver were from Benedict Ian Gawok in the men’s 110m hurdles in a time of 14.46s while the gold went to Sarawak’s Mohd Rizzua Haizad Muhamad (14.25s) and the bronze for Perak’s Muhd Naim Abdullah (14.92s).
In the men’s Javelin Throw, Mohd Alif Mohd Rozi won the silver with 57.68m while teammate Beckham Buing took the bronze with 55.77m. Johor’s Muhammad Ashraf Abu won the gold with 60.78m.
Karmentina Nadia Quadra also added a bronze medal from the women’s 100m hurdles in a time of 15.28s). The gold went to Jurian Mat Rodzi of Perak 14.64s and silver Nur Atikah Azman of Pahang 15.09s.
Chelsea Cassiopea Evali Bopulas, on the other hand, came up short yet again against her nemesis Azreen Nabila Alias Terengganu in the sprint event, losing for the third time in as many days.
Chelsea clocked 25.27s to settle for the bronze while the silver medallist was Shereen Samson Vallabouy (24.92s) and the gold went to the undisputed Sukma sprint queen Azreen (24.76s) who completed a unique sprint treble having also won the 100m and 4x100m.
Sabah’s women (Camellia Jasten, Chelsea, Puteri Nur Safirah Gajali, Sharifah Aisyah Mohamad) also won bronze in the 4x400m relay in 4:03.89s. Kedah won the gold in 3:56.24s and Perak with the silver in 4:01.35s.
Meanwhile, Andre Anura @ Anuar had on Wednesday delivered the first athletics gold from the men’s Triple Jump, where he also set a new Games record of 15.91m.
Andre also finished second in the men’s Long Jump and other silver medallists were Chelsea (women’s 100m), Mohamad Eizlan Dahalan (High Jump) and the women’s 4x100m squad (Chelsea, Ikma Syaffiera Duris, Karmentina and Nur Aishah Rofina Aling).
The other bronze medals were from Ikma (women’s 200m), Zulkifli Saidin (shot putt), Sharimien (400m) and the men’s 4x100m squad (Desmond Wong, Tonga, Mohammad Nor Musyaraf Mohd Sari and Muhammad Din Norbik).