KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 16): Sabah’s Chelsea Cassiopea Evali Bopulas shrugged off a sore ankle to clinch her first ever Malaysia Games (Sukma) gold medal today.
The 22-year-old did not show any discomfort as she clocked 57 seconds flat to win the Women’s 400m gold at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Johor’s Nurul Aliah Maisarah Nor Azmi (57.78s) and Federal Territory’s Zaimah Atfah Zainuddin (58.85s) settled for the silver and bronze respectively.
Another Sabahan finalist Patronella Lisong was fourth with 59.34s.
Chelsea revealed after the race that she has been suffering from a minor ankle injury for the past eight months.
“I have to put my injury concerns aside and concentrate on my race. It paid off and I’m happy to win.
“It was my first gold medal in Sukma,” said the petite lass from Penampang.
Chelsea, in fact, made an equally important decision when she decided to switch the 100m and 200m events with the one-lap sprint event.
In her maiden Sukma in Perak in 2018, she won a silver in the 100m and a bronze in the 200m events.
“The decision to switch events was well worth it. I’ve proven I’ve made the right decision not only with the Sukma win but also various national competitions previously.
“There’s no secret to my success…the most important thing is to continue training to achieve excellence,” she said.
Chelsea would still have the chance to add to her medal collections in the on-going Sukma where she will also be involved in the 200m, 4x100m and also the 4x400m events.
Meanwhile, Nur Aishah Rofina Aling bagged the silver medal in the Women’s 100m final after clocking 12.08s, which was 0.04s slower than her personal best set in the semifinal.
Teammate Feova Lim Yi Fei settled for fourth placing in 12.20s in the Century dash which was won by Pahang’s Nor Sarah Adi in 11.91s while Selangor’s Nur Afrina Batrisyia Mohamad Rizal took the bronze in 12.10s.
After two days of athletics competitions, Sabah team has won three gold to edge closer to achieving their five-gold target. Sabah have also collected two silver and two bronze medals thus far.
The first two golds were won by Farrel Glenn Felix Jurus (Men’s High Jump) on Thursday and Andre Anura @ Anuar (Men’s Long Jump) earlier today.
Eleven more gold medals will be up for grabs in the penultimate day of athletics competition tomorrow.