| Fadhil Yunus |
A TOTAL of 14 members of the Brunei Darussalam contingent comprising athletes from taekwondo and wushu arrived home yesterday after competing in the 18th Sukma in Kuching, Sarawak.
On hand to welcome the contingent home was the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof.
Also present was Dato Paduka Dr Haji Affendy bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
The minister presented each of the medallists – one in wushu and three in taekwondo – with congratulatory sashes commemorating their achievement.
Brunei’s rising wushu talent Mohd Adi Salihin bin Roslan, who comes from a fairly successful sporting family, shone at the Games after bagging a silver medal in the nandao event.
“I am humbled by the experience and proud to win silver in the event. I also did not expect to win it,” said Mohd Adi Salihin in an interview with the Bulletin.
Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in a group photo with the athletes. – KHAIRIL HASSAN
“I have been training and working hard for Sukma. I found the field to be tough but I’ve tried my best,” he further added.
He echoed his coach sentiments that he was not far off in getting gold with his opponent nicking the score in his favour by a slender margin.
Asked whether he has been attending an intensive camp abroad, he responded that he trained in Brunei the entire time.
He also thanked his coaches and family for their support and giving attention to his training.
“I will do the best as I can if there are opportunities in future tournaments,” Mohd Adi Salihin said.
The taekwondo team bagged three bronze through Hyde Nachman Hijium in the poomsae male individual, Hyde Nathania Hijium in the poomsae female individual and Ahmad Izzat Ahsanuddin bin Sofian in the male featherweight over 63kg and not exceeding 68kg category.
Meanwhile, Md Asy Syafi’e bin Md Bohari reached the men’s 100m final after placing second in the preliminaries with a time of 10.93s at the Sarawak Stadium in Petra Jaya.
The Brunei runner bettered his time after clocking 10.68s to finish seventh but he was accompanied with a competitor who etched his name into the record books.
Malacca’s Khairul Hafiz bin Jantan is now the fastest man in Malaysia over 100m after smashing Watson Nyambek’s 18-year-old national record with a time of 10.18s.
The Malacca-based runner has also broken Watson Nyambek’s Games record which he set in Pahang in 1996.
Jonathan Nyepa of Sarawak clinched silver with 10.36s while Badrul Hisyam bin Abdul Manap claimed bronze.
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