Raising the bar
Gymnast Fu Jie on the radar for another national call-up
KUALA LUMPUR: Artistic gymnast Tan Fu Jie can expect another national call-up after a successful debut at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
Fu Jie was neither a Podium Programme or Kita Juara athlete but the Selangor gymnast defied the odds to win the pommel horse and helped the team to a silver medal.
The 21-year-old Fu Jie, who is pursuing a psychology degree at Help University, trained under former international Onn Kwang Tung and surprised everyone when he made the Games squad.
Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF)’s vice-president Kau Git Kaur acknowledged that Fu Jie has a bright future.
“Fu Jie showed that he has all the credentials to be in the national team with his gold-medal feat. The MGF will propose that he will remain in the national team,” said Git Kaur.
The MGF’s major tournaments next year are the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in April and the Asian Games in Jakarta in August.
Fu Jie showed that he has all the credentials to be in the national team with his gold-medal feat.
Kau Git Kaur
MGF are also pleased with the men’s strong performance at the Games. Malaysia last won an individual gold in the men’s individual competition at Manila 2005 through Ng Shu Wai in the individual all-around and horizontal bar.
“It’s good to see the men stepping up. We hope this team will continue to show improvement as the standard at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are much higher,” said Git Kaur.
The men also won a silver through Zul Bahrin Mat Asri in the floor exercise and another bronze in the horizontal bar through Jeremiah Loo.