Sabah bag seven golds at Friendship Games
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah bagged seven gold medals at the ongoing 10th BIMPNTEAGA Friendship Games in Brunei, this weekend.
Track and field athletes dominated the scene by winning five on Friday, while karatekas added two more yesterday for another glittering outing on the penultimate day.
Sabah won both gold medals in the Team Kata events.
The gold medals came from Clevelence Carlos, Mohd Azhad Haziq Henry and Nuraliff Rudzee Ruzlee (men’s team) and Vellcarollyne Augustine, Esther Bell Siaw Tze Ling and Alexandra Jacklya Dakius in the women’s team.
Solid performances in the 100m finals, shot put and 4x100m relays gave Sabah five gold medals two days ago.
Back-to-back wins in the relay finals saw Sabah clock 42.66s for the men’s crown and 49.48s in the women’s race.
South Sulawesi took silver in 43.71s in the men’s category and Northern Territory won the bronze in 42.81s. The women’s silver went to South Sulawesi in 50.79s, while Palawan took the bronze in 51.86s.
There was another double in track events as Desmon Wong Tzyy Luen and Chelsea Cassiopea Evali topped the podium in the men’s and women’s blue riband events.
Sabah’s pride soared when Desmon clocked 11.28s in the men’s race, while Chelsea finished in 12.35s to clinch the women’s crown.
The other gold medal came from Nobenecka Pinalus in women’s shot put. Nobenecka threw to a distance of 10.88m to oust nearest rivals Sitti Nurhayati Md Jefry from Brunei (9.85m) and Nur Athirah Aliah Ali Omar from Labuan (9.85m).
It could have been another gold medal in the men’s 400m final but Isaiah Ng Jian Lung settled for silver in 50.97s after Jhon Llyod Cabalo of Palawan won the gold in a time of 50.14s. Nurhidayat Yusuf from South Sulawesi won the bronze in 51.29s.
Another silver medal came from Marlin Hing William in the women’s 1,500m final. Sulawesi runners won the gold and bronze medals.
Sabah also won bronze in the women’s 400m through Puteri Nur Safirah Gajali in 1:02.22s. Jessel Lumpas from Palwan won the gold in 57.47s, while Nurfadillah Mulyadi from South Sulawesi bagged the silver in 1:00.71s.
The Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Northern Territory-East Asian Growth Area Games concludes today. Results are accurate at press time.