Ally training under the watchful eyes of Sarawak coach Bogomil Ivanov Momchilov at the Sarawak Gymnasium in Petra Jaya recently.
KUCHING: He came close to snatching the gold medal in the men’s rings during Sukma Perak in Ipoh two years ago.
By next March in the Johor Sukma, however, Sarawak’s sole representative in the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics competition Ally Hamuda is all set to grab what eluded him three years ago.
The 18-year old was hampered by a knee problem in 2018 and had to settle for the silver medal in the men’s rings.
“Yes, with the absence of the seniors who are now overaged, the chance is very good for me and I am pretty confident that I can do well in this Sukma.
“The gold medal is my target for this Sukma and I am now training very hard to achieve this goal,” Ally told thesundaypost.
He has also fully recovered from the knee operation after Sukma Perak.
This will be his third Sukma outing. In his debut he finished fourth in the rings and floor exercise at Sukma Sarawak in 2016.
Ally, who took up artistic gymnastics at age 7, is also expected to compete in the men’s pommel horse and parallel bars in Johor.
For the record, the last time Sarawak won gold medals in the sport at Sukma was through Jonathan Chien in the individual all-around, floor exercise and high bar at the Sukma Terengganu in 2008.
Ally, a former student of SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg, did well in his SPM last year, scoring 5As, 2Bs and 2Cs.
He has been accepted for the August intake for Foundation of Life Science in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
A key indication of the progress he made since Sukma Perak came when he picked up the gold medal in the men’s rings at the Singapore Open last year.
Meanwhile, Ally is hoping to make it to the national squad with a good performance in Johor Sukma.
“The national coach has actually approached me on this matter and I do hope to be called for national training,” he said.