Southern Zone tops medal tally in 3rd Sarawak Games

SIBU (Jan 18): Southern Zone (Kuching, Samarahan, Serian) made a successful defence of the overall championship when they won the third edition of the Sarawak Games (Suksar) which ended here today.

The 293-strong contingent captured 63 gold, 43 silvers and 37 bronze medals to top the four-zonal competition.

Host Central Zone ended up second in overall medal tally after garnering 50 golds, 47 silvers and 54 bronzes to pip Northern Zone (49-56-59). Western Zone collected eight golds, 20 silvers and 44 bronzes.

Southern Zone’s prowess was contributed by Wushu 17-8-3), Taekwondo (11-9-5), Boxing (9-4-3), pencak silat (8-5-6), weightlifting (5-0-8), judo (4-5-3), cycling (4-4-1), karate (2-3-4), futsal (2-1-0), sepak takraw (0-1-1), hockey (0-1-1) and basketball (0-1-1).

Adding the using to the cake for the zone was that it produced the two athletes named as best athletes of Suksar III.

The Best Male Athlete was 16-year-old Fedealis Twin while the Best Female Athlete was 20-year-old Farah Nabilah Maddarus. Both won three golds each in taekwondo.

Southern Zone chef de mission Caroline Cleophas Joseph, who is Serian Resident, was thrilled with the final results.

“I feel very excited and very grateful because this success is contributed by all the team athletes and officials and the Southern Zone Secretariat who have worked very hard to achieve our mission to become the overall champions of SUKSAR III.

“We managed to surpass the achievement in SUKSAR II in Miri in 2019 where we captured 55 golds by bagging 63 golds in this Suksar,” she told The Borneo Post when met at the Sibu Indoor Stadium before the closing ceremony.

“Congratulations to all contingent members and to those who will represent Sarawak in the coming Sukma XXI, all the best and l hope they can become a strong team,” added Caroline.