Sabah Health Dept emerge champions at Borneo Games
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Health Department team emerged as champions in football at the 7th Borneo Goodwill Health Games in Tarakan, Kalimantan, Indonesia, recently.
In the four-day games, Sabah Health Department team lived up to their billing as tournament favourites after they beat Labuan Health Department, 4-1 in the final on Monday.
Sabah launched a string of attacks right from the start and Ramadin Anduhut was the hero with his two goals netted in as many minutes.
A solo effort in the 18th minute saw Ramadin dribble the ball from centre field and skipped past several defenders before shooting it into the net.
And before the opponent could respond, Ramadin struck again, this time heading home from Azlan Mumin's corner kick in the 20th minute.
Sabah continued to attack creating several chances to increase their lead but good goalkeeping helped Labuan to limit the damage as the score remained unchanged at the break.
The keeper's efforts inspired his teammates to come out blazing in the second half and Labuan got their reward shortly after the game resumed.
Sabah defenders failed to intercept a weak pass and a header put the ball past keeper Charles Chen for the score to go 2-1.
But Sabah recovered quickly from the mistake. A penalty goal from Muslyadi Amdas made it 31 after a foul was committed on Ramadin in the 50th minute.
Heavy rain later disrupted the flow of the game but that did not stop Sabah from finding the net again this time with Mancon Andangon striking from range.
His goal from 30m out made it 4-1 to seal victory for Sabah.
On hand to show his support was Sabah Health Department deputy director-cum-Chef de Mission Dr William Gotulis.
Six teams took part in the competition including three from North Kalimantan and one from East Kalimantan.
The Sabah squad comprised Heliven, Ahmad Jaidi, Zenelter Dangku, Mohd Khalid, Joe Maiclee, Fredano, Jackson Taguah, Halimi, Nickie, Neil Bryan, Jusnih, Bryan Parsi, Mohd Ashraf, Muslyadi, Azlan and Ramadin.