Teng (centre) with MyArm president Mohd Zil Fadli Abdul Halim (seventh left), Stephen Kee (seventh right), team officials and pullers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 before flying back to Kuching on Sunday.
KUCHING (Dec 15): Sarawak pullers performed beyond expectations to capture 12 gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals in the National Armwrestling Championships at Tropicana Aman Recreational Hub in Selangor last Saturday.
The 24-member team managed by Premier 101 Armwrestling Club president Dato Sri Teng Chi Lik were third overall, losing the second spot to Putra Jaya who collected 12 golds, 11 silvers and 11 bronzes.
Armwrestling powerhouse Sabah made a successful defence of the overall championship crown when they hauled in 13 gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals.
In fourth and fifth positions were Penang (2-1-2) and Johor (1-3-5) respectively.
“It is an outstanding performance by our pullers and we made a big improvement by winning more medals when compared to the 5-5-6 medal haul in 2019.
“This shows that our pullers are more mature now and the improvement in the performance is due to the strong support from Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) in terms of providing a coach, supplements and funding.
“Special thanks goes to SSC, Roxy Hotel and MT Construction for the sponsorship in this national meet,” he said.
Team coach Dominic Johnny, who won the Men’s Senior 70kg Left Hand gold, heaped praises on the first-timers Acho Prince Kee Zing Yang, Flora Claudia Jolo Patrick, Rengga Ansok, Bonnyface Ronny Steven Ajak and Mohd Shafiq Abdullah who did well in the one-day competition.
“Acho, who is only 15 years old, competed in the Junior U18 Right Hand and won a silver. Rengga bagged a gold in the Master 86kg Left Hand and a silver in the Master 86kg Right hand.
“We have Bonnyface securing gold in the Junior U18 63kg Left Hand and Shafiq captured the gold medals in the Junior U21 70kg Left Hand and Right Hand,’ he said.
Dominic felt that the female pullers did an ‘awesome job’ by dominating the competition and making a clean sweep of the golds at stake in the women’s categories.
“Abigail was the star of the team as she not only won the gold medals in the but also lifted the “champion of the champions” trophy the second time after beating teammate Bernice Gan.
Abigail was the champion in the Women’s 75kg Left Hand and Women’s 75kg Right Hand.
As for Kenny Choo and Cristal Adam, Dominic was happy that the duo were able to retain their titles.
“Jong Chi Joon managed to give a good challenge to International Federation of Armwrestling (IFA) champion Joffey Jolly of Sabah.
“Although he was unable to beat Joffey, Jong still managed to pin him one round in the final,” added Dominic.
“The pullers and I managed to be as ready as we could despite the limitations brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and I am more than happy and satisfied with their performance in this national meet,” he concluded.
What made the event more special for Sarawak and Premier 101 Armwrestling Club deputy president Dr Stephen Kee Chu Kiong was the presentation of a special award by the Malaysia Armwrestling Federation (MyArm) to his wife the late Nommi Pengiran for her contribution to the promotion of the sport in Sarawak and Malaysia.
Accompanying the team to the championship were team advisor Dr Stephen Kee, assistant manager Desmond Joseph and referee Abisadj Kee Zing Yi.