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- Mohd Rizzua (centre), Muhammad Zul and Mohd Emyrul (right) after the medal presentation.
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- Mandy in action in the women’s long jump.
KUCHING: Sarawak bagged one gold, one silver and three bronze medals on the final day of athletics at the Sarawak Stadium here yesterday, finishing second in the overall track and field medal tally behind Perak.
Budding sprint hurdler Mohd Rizzua Haizad Mahmud was the home crowd’s toast for the day, winning the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 14.54s. He was already the clear favourite for the race, having topped the qualifying round with 14.67s in Thursday’s semi-finals.
As the race took off 15 minutes past 10am, there was no stopping the 19-year-old who led from start to finish. Second place went to Perak’s Muhammad Zul Fikri Yusri who timed 15.05s while Mohd Emyrul Haziq of Melaka finished third.
Mohd Rizzua’s younger brother, Mohd Rizzuah, 17, finished sixth in 15.66s.
“I dedicate this win to my parents who are here to watch us race. They have been very supportive of our career, the gold medal today is gift to them,” he told reporters after the race.
The Bukit Jalil trainee added that the win had provided a closure to his Perlis Sukma 2014 disappointment, having to withdrew from the final after picking up a hamstring injury in the relay event.
Sarawak’s one silver for the day was picked up by Abdul Rahman Lee in the discus.
He threw 46.62m to finish behind the national record holder Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin of Negeri Sembilan.
Sarawak’s top sprinter Jonathan Nyepa had to settle for bronze in the men’s 200m.
He clocked 21.34s behind Melaka’s Khairul Hafiz Jantan and Muhammad Aqil Yasmin of Selangor.
The newly crowned ‘Sprint King’ ran to a new Sukma record of 21.03s for the gold.
“I had pushed myself to the max. He (Khairul) was unbeatable this time around. I will continue to train in the current set-up and try to qualify for the Sea Games,” Jonathan commented on his performance.
The Sukma hosts collected two other bronze medals from Mandy Goh Li in the women’s long jump and Norris Foo in heptathlon. Mandy jumped 5.49m to finish behind Kedah’s Shahidatun Nadia and Kirthana Ramasamy of Perak.
Norris amassed a total of 4,116 points for her third placing, finishing first in 100m hurdles (15.10s), shot put (8.85m) and 200m (25.78s).
Overall, Perak triumphed through the four days of competition, securing six gold, nine silver and five bronze. Sarawak picked up five gold, five silver and eight bronze. In third was Sabah with 5-3-7.
Melaka, powered by its new generation of sprinters, came fifth with five gold and two bronze.
Sarawak broke one meet record this time around, through hammer throw specialist Grace Wong Xiu Mei who bettered her personal best with a throw distance of 57.76m on Thursday. She broke her own record of 55.82m set in the 2014 Malaysia Games in Perlis.