9 Sukma-bound S’wak athletes achieve personal best in Philippines

KUCHING (May 15): A squad of Sarawak Sukma long list of athletes bagged eight gold, eight silver and four bronze medals at the Philippines Athletics Championships held at PhilSports Arena, Pasig City from May 8-12.

The 23-strong team competed against 70 other teams comprising mostly of local clubs, colleges and high schools but athletes from Sabah, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong were also in action.

The two East Malaysian teams used the meet as part of their preparation for the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma) to be held in Sarawak in three months. Athletes competed under the categories of Open, Under-20 and Under-18 during the five-day championships.

Five of Sarawak’s gold medals were collected in the U-20 category. They were obtained by Maritza Ferrer Neil Armstrong (women’s triple jump: 11.67m), Angelina Ngang (women’s javelin: 37.80m), Bennedict Diwet (men’s 100m: 10.74sec), Voon Pei Ling (women’s shot put: 11.64m), and men’s 4x100m relay quartet of Rueben Valan Samen Willie, Dylan Loo, Muhammad Nur Rahman Mohamad Zaidi and Bennedict Diwet (42.2sec).

Silver medallists in the U-20 category included Ormilla Octavia Codday (women’s 100m: 12.15sec) and Danae Humairah Saryman (women’s 400m: 60.26sec).

Reigning Sukma champions Jonah Chang Rigan (shot put) and Ng Jing Xuan (women’s javelin) both finished second competing in the Open category. Jonah’s best throw was 17.10m while Ng reached a personal best of 45.57m. Asrul Badroldin picked up the bronze with his best height of 4.50m in the pole vault.

Sarawak head coach Lim Teck Leong expressed satisfaction with the team’s overall performance and regarded the meet as a very good exposure for the state athletes preparing for the upcoming Sukma.

He was especially pleased with nine athletes who bettered their personal bests: Ng Jing Xuan, Ailenna Thipong(women’s hammer), Pauline Ului (women’s discus), Voon Pei Ling (women’s shot put), Maritza Ferrer Amstrong (women’s triple jump), Elvin Yap Zhi Xian (men’s 110m hurdles), Akmal Kifflyza (decathlon), Elaine Wong Koh Ching and Darellyn Denisa Deng (heptathlon).

The squad was accompanied by four other coaches – Willie Liew Yu Yung, Kuan We Wei, Ngu Kit Ming and Eldy Sham Irlon – and Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) sports development officers Mikar Changgan and Ikmal Afandi.