Best boy and girl athletes in the U18 age-group Johnny Ling Siew Hong and Mandy Goh Li.
The Miri contingent with Koh (second left, front row) celebrating at Unimas Stadium on Friday.
SAMARAHAN: Miri bounced back from last year’s defeat to Kuching to regain the overall championship crown at the 44th Sarawak Schools Sports Council Track and Field Championships which ended at Unimas Stadium on Friday.
The 119-strong team from the Oil City captured 32 gold, 33 silver and 29 bronze medals to amass 466 points and top the annual meet that was participated by 860 athletes from the 12 divisions in the state.
Miri were champions in four age-groups, topping the Boys and Girls U14 and 15, and were second in Girls U12 and Boys U18 and third in Girls U18.
Team manager Koh Chee Kiat said their win justified the confidence put on them by Senadin assemblyman Datuk Lee Kim Shin, who is also Assistant Minister of Sports and Communications.
“One of the main contributory factors to our victory was the morale and financial support of RM30,000 from Datuk Lee which has helped tremendously to reduce our expenses,” he added.
The SMK Pujut principal also attributed the success to the teamwork of their coaches and officials and the fighting spirit of the athletes.
He also noted that 26 Miri athletes were among the 90 selected to represent Sarawak in the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Track and Field Championships to be held in Terengganu from May 3-7.
Five more new records were created on the fourth and final day of the championships on Friday.
Nick Ezza Sarawa from Limbang stole the limelight when she shattered a 19-year old record of 1.55m in the Girls U15 high jump set by Lau Hung Charn after soaring to a new height of 1.58m.
Miri’s Kish Kong Jia Ming took the Boys U14 200m gold in a record time of 23.6s (old record: 23.77s) while his teammates also broke the Girls U14 4x400m relay record of 4:24.8s with a new time of 4:24.2s.
Kuching contributed two new records. The Girls U14 4x100m relay quartet clocked 52.02s to go under the old mark of 52.8s after Dana River Yu Ping Sing erased Kee Siew Lian’s 26.6s from the record book with a new time of 26.4s in the Girls U15 200m.
Although defending champions Kuching captured one more gold than Miri in addition to 20 silver and 23 bronze medals, they lost by points as they had collected a total of 414.5 points.
Sarikei took third spot with 281 points from 20 gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze medals.
In fourth and fifth positions were Sibu with 159 points (7-12-9) and Bintulu with 147 (10-7-8).
Sixth to 12th positions were occupied by Kapit (120 points), Samarahan (116), Limbang (87.5), Sri Aman (84), Betong (42), Mukah (33) and newcomers Serian (32).
Wong Yu Kiong of Sarikei (U12), Kish Ong Jia Ming of Miri (U14), Mohd Norhazim Ahmad of Kuching (U15), Johnny Ling Siew Hong of Sibu (U18) and Mohd Affendy Ramli (Special Education) were adjudged the best boy athletes of the meet.
The best girl athletes were Avriliena Vanafe Gindi of Sarikei (U12), Myranda Najja Neil Armstrong of Kuching (U14), Nurhaziqah Izzati Zana of Miri (U15), Mandy Goh Li of Kuching (U18) and Nursyawatie Mohamad Zaini of Sibu (Special Education).
Sarawak Education Department’s human resources development sector head Ambrose Jarit closed the event and gave away the prizes.