IT was another glittering day for Penang as they captured five golds for the second straight time in the 19th Sukma (Malaysia Games) to maintain their third overall placing.
The golds came from their men’s artistic gymnastic team and Jeremiah Loo Phay Xing (men’s individual all-round), swimmer Elynn Tan Yilin (women’s 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly) and men’s singles badminton player Tan Jia Wei.
Apart from that, Penang collected two silvers through men’s singles squash player Ryan Neville Pasqual and taekwondo exponent Muhammad Zunnurain Nor Azam and four bronze medals through swimmer Ho Keesha, taekwondo exponent Choo Tze Xuan, tenpin bowling men’s trio and women archer M. Priyaswary.
“It’s quite a good day for us. But we hope to win more golds in the next few days,” said state Youth and Sports Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee.
“I’m here to visit the athletes and see how they perform. I also want to understand where are the weak points and what needs to be done to further develop the sports.”
Federal Territories have taken over the lead from Terengganu in the medal standings with 29 gold, 22 silver and 28 bronze medals. Terengganu are in second place with 28-27-25, followed by Penang (23-17-15), Sarawak (21-18-37), Selangor (20-39-33), hosts Perak (18-26-31) and Pahang (17-9-16).
Elynn, a 19-year-old student of Iowa State University, is one of the stars at the Tuanku Zara Aquatic Centre when she powered her way to win the 100m freestyle (58.87s) and 50m butterfly (28.19s) for her third gold medal. She won the 50m backstroke on Monday.
Half an hour after she had won her second event, she was back at the pool to take part in the 200m individual medley. She struggled home to finish in eighth and last spot in 2:38.40.
“Overall, I’m glad with my performances. I’m enjoying the meet and want to do my best in other events,” said Elynn, who received her 100m freestyle gold medal from Penang deputy chef-de-mission Cheah Ban Cheng and the Games mascot souvenir from Penang State Sports Council director Frederick Tan Teck An during the prize presentation.
Penang swimming team manager Thor Al Wayne said he was happy that Penang have already surpassed the two gold medals won in each of the past three editions of Sukma in 2012, 2014 and 2016. He is hopeful of more medals in the next three days.
Promising Keesha, who has been under the training of Chinese coach Xu Ya Fen for the past year, celebrated her 16th birthday with a memorable bronze medal in 50m butterfly in a time of 29.07s. The silver went to Yap Siew Hui of Selangor (29.04).
America-born Lim Yin Chuen, who won the 200m backstroke on Monday, was narrowly beaten by Federal Territories’ Keith Lim Kit Sern in the 100m freestyle today. Kit Sern, who recently competed in the Asian Games in Jakarta, clocked 50.89 while Yin Chuen managed 51.12. Third place went to Terence Ng Shin Jian of Selangor (52.66).
Shuttler Jia Wei played a smart game to edge past giant killer Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin of Selangor 21-16, 21-19 in the men’s singles final.
Sholeh, who had packed off top seed and Asian junior champion Leong Jun Hao of Federal Territories in the quarter-finals and third seed Yeoh Seng Zoe of Penang in the semi-finals, at one point complained to umpire Napsiah Ahmad over Jia Wei’s delaying tactics to catch his breath.
The crowd also jeered Jia Wei, but the Penang shuttler was unrattled and went on to triumph in the 50-minute battle.
“I did not purposely fall down to waste time but I did what was within my rights as a player to get the court mopped or change the shuttle cork. I’m glad to win my first Sukma gold medal,” said Jia Wei, who was a member of the Penang men’s team that finished as silver medallists in the 2016 Sukma in Sarawak.
Coincidentally, Jia Wei, who has joined the Bukit Jalil Sports School for the past eight years, is being trained by Misbun Sidek while Aidil Sholeh is being trained by Misbun’s young brother Rashid Sidek at the Sports Affairs Badminton Academy in Cheras.
Penang coach Raslan Rajan Abdullah said he advised Jia Wei to focus on the game and play for each point during the interval.
“I told him to be patient and to engage his rival in more rallies. Then, wait for the right time to attack. He’s a thinking player,” said Razlan.
Jeremiah Loo Phay Xing led the Penang men’s artistic gymnastics team to victory. The other members of the team were Muhammad Ammar Anuar Mustafa, Ng Chun Chen, Soon Khye Ze, Teoh Chuen Feng and Teoh Chuen Loong. They totalled 290.65 points.
Selangor finished second with 282.55 points while Sabah took third place with 281.10 points.
Jeremiah, who won the 2017 SEA Games gold medal in the pommel horse, later went on to grab individual all-round gold medal with a score of 79.75.
Pahang’s Azroy Ameierol Jaffar took the silver with 77.05 points and Brandon Denoley Luise of Sabah got the bronze with 71.70 points.
Penang gymnastic manager Foong Wah Seng said it was a great start by his athletes.
“The men’s team put up a solid performance while Jeremiah was in his element. He will go for the pommel horse tomorrow,” said Foong.
For the second day in a row, Penang’s athletes did not get any podium finish.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis & Nur Afiqah Zainudi and courtesy of the Penang State Sports Council