‘Girl power’ to spearhead Sarawak’s quest for Sukma judo gold

SIBU (July 18): The Sarawak Judo Association (PJS) is confident of making a golden breakthrough in next month’s Malaysian Games (Sukma).

President Dato Sri Lau Kueng Chai said PJS has left no stone unturned and has built a formidable team fully prepared for the games.

“We are confident of delivering at least one gold medal and there is a possibility we can achieve more. But for the moment we do not want to do much speculation … just hope the players will continue to work hard and aim high at the games,” he told The Borneo Post.

Lau said PJS’ expectations rested much on ‘girl power’ to deliver gold medals.

“We have three gold medal hopefuls comprising Leng Ko Jia (70kg), Tan Xin Hung (83kg), and Geraldine Chung (52kg), all three are champions in their own right,” he said.

Leng, 15, won the70kg junior and cadet categories, while Tan, 16, bagged the 83kg title at the National Judo Championships held in Lumut, Perak in March.

Leng also lifted the 70kg title at this year’s Sukan Bakat and Junior Judo Championships held in Melaka.

Chung, who is studying in Hungary, acquired valuable experience when she took part in the recent European University Games. She will be back home to help the state squad in the quest for more gold medals at Sukma.

“She will return today (yesterday) to join the state squad for sparring and upgrading skills in Kuching,” Lau said.

The Sukma-bound squad will go to Bali for a week’s training from July 18-30 followed by centralised training in Mukah from Aug 1 onwards.

The judo competition for the 21st Sukma will be held at Dewan Sri Balau, UiTM Campus in Mukah on Aug 20-22.

Sarawak judokas have rarely hit the jackpot in recent Sukma history although Brenton Sim did win the gold medal in the 81kg category in Sukma 2010.

“We have to push forward and aim for higher results and achievements. We need to go for gold medals and that is our target and our mission for the coming Sukma,” Lau pledged.

The judokas have been training under coach Igarashi Jumpei from Japan and assistant coach Anderson Venus in recent months.

“Since Iragashi took over coaching last year, the state team had shown remarkable improvement,” said Lau, who has been striving to revitalise the sport since he took the helm last year.

In the past year, PJS has been doubling down on establishing a foothold for judo in Sibu, Miri, and Bintulu divisions to widen the base for athletes in the sport.