Karate delivers two golds
Published on: Thursday, July 21, 2016
Kuching: The Sabah contingent made the golden breakthrough on the second day of the 2016 Sukma Games when karate surprised sceptics to take home two gold medals at the Mini Stadium in Miri on Wednesday.Mohd Zairam Zainal clinched the first gold for Sabah in the kumite men -60kg class when he defeated B. Yassaskaran from Selangor in the final.The second came from Gwendollyn Gimus who beat P. Visalni also from Selangor in the kumite women -55kg class.
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Sabah had three athletes featured in the afternoon finals but Maychelle Roger Mool failed to beat her opponent C. Shahmalarani in the final hurdle and had to settle for silver.It was the third silver medal for Sabah contingent as earlier in the morning session, the karatekas had made an early breakthrough to open their medal account with two silvers from the kata events.The teams trained under national exponent Ricky Leong bagged two medals in the men and women category.In the men category, the trio of Elreno Zeru, Zimito Jipui Jr and Arif Alfian Arifin lost to Penang 5-0 while Cairolla Cheverry Wong Yee Ying, Vell Carollyne Agustine and Kriscel Wong Ven Rei also lost the women's final to Penang with an identical score.
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The result was a big surprise for the Sabah contingent as the State karate team was not expected to win any gold in the competition even though they had set a three-gold target for themselves.However, their early potential winner Ar Nickazmie lost on the opening day while two other gold medal prospects Yunes Vickneswaran and Shaweena Zulkifli will only see action Thursday.
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Sabah Karate Association (SKA) Secretary General Julian Chin who was there as an official praised the athletes for their achievement."Our athletes together with the coaches deserved the result today with their hard work and commitment."I must say a big thank you to the Youth and Sports Ministry, MSN (Sabah Sports Council), ISN, the parents, other coaches, and all SKA members for their support. "We will continue to work extra hard to bring glory to the State in other competitions and the next Sukma."Meanwhile, other State athletes who were in action on Wednesday saw the men lawn bowls fours team upset defending champions Selangor 13-11 in the preliminary round.Gold medal prospect Siti Solehah Halim started the defence of her singles title with an easy 21-13 win over her Kelantan opponent while the women fours lost to their Terengganu opponents.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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