Fathin finally clinches gold
Published on: Thursday, July 28, 2016
Kuching: Fathin Faqihah Mohd Yusof finally won the gold medal after three attempts in her final appearance at the Sarawak Sukma Games on Wednesday.The 20-year-old Tawau lass upset hot favourite and SEA Games bronze medallist Shereen Samson from Perak in the women 400m final at the State Stadium.Starting in lane five with Shereen in lane four, Fathin was in the lead from the start and Shereen tried to make her move on the final stretch but was unable to do so as Fathin powered home with her time of 57.43s.
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Shereen only managed a 60.25 with Federal Territory's Zaimah Atifah in third with 60.51s.The exhausted Fathin, who before the race said she would have an uphill task to beat Shereen, was lost for words after the race and it took her several minutes before she finally calmed down."I was really surprised with my win today honestly. I still can't believe I have done it because I knew Shereen is a very strong runner."I started well but she was very powerful and able to follow me right from the start. It was after the final curve that I realised I had a chance to beat her and I gave my all on the final stretch."
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Despite the win she felt a bit disappointed with her winning time."My personal best is 56.8. So the winning time was not as good as I had hoped for. But to finally win a gold medal after winning a bronze in 200m in Pahang and a silver in 400m in Perlis two years ago, I am very happy."
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There was another gold in track and field Wednesday with Salesnella Gabi finishing first in the women's 5000m with a time of 19.15.12 followed by Selangor's Pavithra Das in 19.26.80 and Ainur Shafiqah Azmi from Negeri Sembilan with her time of 19.58.89.Raymond Yew Liang Tung also delivered a bronze for the team after finishing third in the men's 800m.Three gold medals were won by Sabah contingent Wednesday with the third coming from archer Wong Co Wan in the men's compound Olympic rounds who beat Selangor's Nik Ahmad Danial 142-141 in the final.In the pool, Chris Tan won a silver in the women 100m backstroke which was her second in the games and she also won three bronze medals.Meanwhile, the pencak silat team are on course for more gold medals for the contingent when seven of their exponents qualified for the finals today while Samuel Johnson Michael also made it to the final of the 75kg class in boxing.Meanwhile, Sabah will not make it easy for Perak in Thursday's semifinals of the 18th Malaysia Games (Sukma) football competition, says team manager Datuk Juail Nuatim on Wednesday."We have nothing to lose in tomorrow match. We are not under any pressure and the players are in high spirit. Perak may be hot favourites for the title but in football everything is possible.""Although we lost to them 0-2 in the President Cup in which they are currently ranked second while we are second from bottom, I am sure our players are determined to prove that all their advantages are only on paper."He added that Sabah will have a full strength team for the game and coach Justin Ganai is likely to start with the same 11 players that beat Johor 2-0 on Tuesday.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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