Sabah’s gymnasts steal the limelight
Sabah’s gymnasts made heads turned with their impressive performance at the just concluded Malaysia National Artistic Gymnastic Championship & SportsExcel Artistic Gymnastic Championships.
The state squad bagged a total of four golds, five silvers and 12 bronzes to cap a memorable weekend at the National Sports Council Gym 3 in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.
Three of the gold medals were won in the Men’s Artistic Gymnastic (MAG) competition while the remaining gold was from the Women’s Artistic Gymnastic (WAG) event.
In the MAG Senior Team competition, the quartet of the Ammar Zafi Mohd Fordaus @ Sylvester, Brandon Denoley Luise, Abd Izzat Daniel Abd Rauf and Jacob Heron Andreas showed consistent all-round performance to win the gold.
Izzat also made sure he returned home with a second gold by topping the Vault event of the MAG Senior competition.
Sabah also added a second
gold from the individual event through Albert Wong, who outscored his opponent to take top placing in the Rings event.
The biggest achievement, however, was arguably delivered
by the state women’s gymnasts in the WAG Senior Team competition.
The squad, comprising Felicity Grace Sew Pei En, Nur Farisha Atiqa Shuaili, Jill Avie Horatio and Jenniesia Juniol, won the gold and crucially a timely reminder that the state women’s athletes deserved to be included in Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2020.
The state women’s coach Liew Tong Ee, when contacted yesterday, said he was happy with the achievements of Sabah athletes in the championships, particularly in the women’s competition.
“In the last Sukma (our girls) represented other state because we did not send the girl’s team.
“Hopefully, with the gold and silver won (in the national and SportExcel), MSN Sabah (Sabah Sports Council) will consider to send our girls to Sukma in Johor next year,” said Tong Ee.
Meanwhile, three of the five silvers won were from the Team events for WAG Pre-Junior (Jaymee Jordan James, Lana Selongga Moosom, Lexianne Davona Benjamin, Bernadith Norbert, Violet Shim Yee Wen, Chris Thien Mei Ru); WAG Junior (Amanda Wong Yeah Chean, Cherfie Risie Chong, Natalie Yapp Qian Tong, Tan Mui Kun); and MAG Junior (Charlie Richie Chong, Albert Wong Wui Ping, Liew Jun Xiang, Sharif Ruzaini Syirazi Sharif Rodizin, Jesse Phownix Bangkasing, Rickey Lee Chi Kun).
The individual silver winners were Jacob in the Parallel Bar and Brandon in the Individual Overall for MAG Senior category.
As for the bronzes, the winners were Bernadith with two from (WAG Pre-Junior - Vault and Individual Overall); Chris (WAG Pre-Junior - Vault); Violet (WAG Pre-Junior - Individual Overall); Natalie (WAG Junior - Individual Overall); Farisha (WAG Senior - Vault & Individual Overall); Charlie and Liew (MAG Junior - Individual Overall); Brandon (MAG Senior - Rings & Vault) and Ammar (MAG Senior - Individual Overall).
“I would like to thank MSN Sabah and especially our SDO (Sports Development Officer) Mohd Noer Zul Qhimie Said who went to support us at the national and SportExcel championship, not fogetting the Sabah Gymnastics Association and parents for their full support,” said Tong Ee, who was also one of the MAG judges officiating at the championships.
For the record, Marilyn Buseong was the team manager while the MAG coaches are Azri Omar and Norqaini Jamlan while Zamri Mohd Din with Tong Ee are the WAG coaches.