Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah amputee football team were crowned champions in the National Amputee Football Championship held at Arena Mutiara, Johor.
Only five teams participated in the tournament.
Former national women coach and Rhinos head coach Asyraaf Fong Abdullah who is coaching the State team managed to guide them to the title for only their second appearance in the competition, having finished in fourth place last year.
They stayed unbeaten throughout the competition with two wins and two draws.
The wins came from the 1-0 victory over defending champions Johor and 5-0 thrashing of Kedah, while the two scoreless draws were against Perak and Pahang.
Asyraaf was delighted with the achievement of the team he helped to establish only a year ago.
“I am satisfied and feel worthwhile with the achievement. Based on the plan I was able to improve many technical aspects and mindset of the players since being tasked to coach the team,” he said.
He added that Muhamad Shahniezam Hamsa was also named player of the tournament.
Sabah were represented by 11 players and they are Fatnee Sardun, Mustapha Junell, Nating Lendeh, Philixe Maruol, Louis Simun, Mohd Hasrul Yudding, Mat Ridwan, Muhamad Shahniezam Hamsa, Shauki Nazri Rasmin, Muhammad Daniel and Roger Daguk.
