Winners in the silat olahraga events posing with team officials after receiving their medals.
Coach happy despite missing four-gold target in Perlis, divers and bowlers contribute medals
KUCHING: Sarawak’s challenge in pencak silat ended with a total haul of two gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
On the final day of the silat olahraga competition at Dewan Rakan Sukan, Perlis Sports Complex, Sarawak’s exponents Muhammad Hafiz Remmy Iskandar and Olivia Chong failed to strike gold in their respective events.
Hafiz lost 1-4 to Mohd Izzat Amat Besar from Perak in the Putera H (80-85kg) while Olivia was no match for Rosenidah Mohamad of Sabah, losing 0-5 in the Puteri F (70-75kg) final.
Team manager Mohamad Yusnar Matalie said although the team failed to achieve its four-gold target, the result was better than the one gold medal they won at Sukma XV in Pahang two years ago.
“They will have to train harder to improve themselves and about half of the team members are still eligible for Sukma 2016 in Sarawak and by then they should be very matured for the challenge,” he said.
In squash, Sarawak edged Penang 2-1 to top Group A with eight points and will face Kelantan in the semi-finals.
Sanjay Singh Chal suffered discomfort on his ankle and lost 2-3 to Ryan Neville Pasqual in the first singles but Jess Tay and Marcus Sim managed to pull Sarawak back win 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Heng Kai Heng and Muhammad Ezzri Nazri in the second and third singles.
Sarawak will play Kelantan in the semi-final later yesterday while the other semi-final is between Negeri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur.
Diving yielded one bronze for Sarawak through Enrique Maccartney Harold and Leo Ah Boon who collected 245.01 points in the platform synchronised diving. The gold was won by Kua Chee Yeap and Muhammad Syafiq Puteh of Perak who garnered 303.78 points while Farez Izzudin Shuhaimi and Ng Zheng Yuan from Selangor collected the bronze with 263.91 points.
Late Wednesday at the Perlis Bowl, Kayangan Square Mall, the pair of Jocelyna Judith Jonathan and Nerosha Keligit Thiagarajan delivered the state bowling team’s second gold.
Jocelyna-Nerosha’s score was 2,399 pinfalls, finishing 38 pins ahead of silver medallists from Negeri Sembilan Nur Dayana Zuhdi and Nurain Mustaffa while the bronze medal was won by Pahang’s pair of Faten Najihah Ahmad Faik and Sharifah Munirra Syed Mohsin with 2,342 pinfalls.
In yesterday’s boys doubles contest, Anthony Luang Cheng and Mohd Uzair Irsyad Noor Azrul, who competed in Squad B, knocked down 2,454 pinfalls to pick up a bronze medal for Sarawak.
The gold medal was won by Melaka’s Abdul Basit Mohamad and Ahmad Daniel Zainal Abidin (2,549) while the silver went to Perak’s pair of Arif Fauzi Shah and Mohamad Farhan Azri Mohamad Ariff (2,477).