Haziq (left) and Yeo at the Kuching International Airport prior to their flight to Kuala Lumpur.
KUCHING: Four kabaddi athletes from Sarawak have been called up for national training in preparation for the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in August next year.
They are Muhamad Haziq Iskandar and Alexson Lian Sin for the men’s team and Yeo Hai Hong and Sharifah Shafiqah Wan Hamidon for the women’s team.
However, Sharifah will not be joining the training in Kuala Lumpur for the two-week training from Nov 10-24 as she is sitting for her SPM.
“This is a big achievement for the Sarawak Kabbadi Association because this is the first time that we had four athletes called up for national duty and three are representing Malaysia,” state head coach Ganisan Punisamy told The Borneo Post yesterday.
According to him, Ruth was selected to the national team in 2010, followed by Alexson Lian and three other girls for national selection in 2014 but none made it to the final team.
“This is a second chance for 25-year old Alexson who is now attached to the Malaysian Royal Navy in Perak and a first for 19 year-old Haziq and 27-year old Yeo.
“Alexson and Haziq are already in the first seven of the team and I am hoping that Yeo will also be in the main team,” said Ganisan who added that Alexson and Yeo are members of the state senior teams while Haziq is new but fast improving.
In fact, the national coach Palaniandy Muniandy has named Haziq as one of the main raiders for the men’s team.
“They are all good players and I have favourable feedback from the national coach on their performance, so I am expecting them to give a good account of themselves in the Asian Games.
“After the national training camp, the players will fly to Jakarta on Nov 25 to play a Test Match which is a Pre-Asian Games competition expected to be participated by Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Sri Lanka,” added Ganisan.