Tai delivers Malaysia's first gold
Published on: Sunday, September 21, 2014
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Daily Express Malaysia
National wushu exponent Tai Cheau Xuen brought much cheer to the Malaysian camp by winning Malaysia's first gold medal at the 17th Asian Games here Saturday. She beat a stellar cast en route to the gold in the Nanquan/Nandao event at the Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium here on the first day of competition in the Games.ADVERTISEMENT Tai, 24, scored 19.23 points to edge the silver medallist, Juwita Niza Wasni of Indonesia, by 0.04 points.China's Wei Hong had to settle for the bronze after collecting 19.15 points.But it was a different story for Malaysian wushu ace Diana Bong Siong Lin who finished last in the event after only managing 18.25 points. ADVERTISEMENT Tai, who hails from Negeri Sembilan, said she was overjoyed to be able to deliver Malaysia's first gold but it had yet to "sink in"."Before coming here my target was to win a medal. I can't believe it is the gold because some top class exponents also competed in this event," she told reporters afterwards.
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She dedicated her victory to all Malaysians for their solid backing for the national contingent in Incheon. "I also want to thank the National Sports Council and Olympic Council of Malaysia for the support they have given me," she said.Juwita Niza said she was satisfied with her performance Saturday despite missing out on the gold.The 18-year-old who comes from Medan, Sumatra, said she had trained for at least four hours a day before coming to Incheon. Meanwhile, national track cycling ace Azizulhasni Awang achieved a personal best of 22.1s in the men's team sprint event in the 17th Asian Games at the Incheon International Velodrome here Saturday. However, the trio of Azizulhasni, Muhammad Edrus Md Yunus and Josiah Ng finished in fifth place after recording an overall time of 1 minute 02.077 seconds."I achieved my personal best in the first lap. My time was okay and power output was also good."It's the best compared to my times in Britain and Germany before this. So I am excited to continue in the next races," he told reporters afterwards.Azizulhasni will be competing in the individual sprint and keirin next.The gold medal was won by the South Korean trio of Son Jeyong, Im Chaebin and Kang Dongjin while the silver went to Xu Chao, Hu Ke and Bao Saifei of China.The bronze was won by the Japanese trio of Tomoyuki Kawabata, Seiichiro Nakagawa and Kazunari Watanabe.Meanwhile, Fatehah Mustapa and Jupha Somnet also came in fifth place after recording 46.988 seconds in the women's team event of the same."The legs were okay but the wind was very strong on on side. This affected Jupha slightly," Fatehah said.Fatehah will be competing in the keirin event on Sunday.China's Zhong Tianshi and Gong Jinjie took the gold while Lee Hyejin and Kim Wongyeong of South Korea the silver. Hsiao Mei Yu and Huang Ting Ying of Taiwan took the bronze medal. – Bernama