BRUNEI showed their mastery in pencak silat by sweeping all their events yesterday at the 3rd Borneo Games at the Youth Centre in the capital. The hosts got their first gold medal through Siti Noradiyatul Amal Roslan, who topped the girls' singles event with a score of 457. With only three participants for the event, Yunita Rahel of East Kalimantan finished second after scoring 451 while Sarawak's Kamsiah Hanapi settled for the bronze medal after posting 444.
The Sultanate's second gold came from the tandem of Mohd Fadzil Afifi and Mohd Nur Fadzillah, who scored 538 to dominate the boys' doubles competition.
East Kalimantan's Ade Ismail Ramadan and Rian Angga registered 530 points to grab the silver medal while Samsul Salleh and Gadaffi Bahri Hamdan of Sarawak claimed the bronze after tallying a score of 508.
With only two teams in the girls' triples event, the trio of sisters Norleydiana and Norleyharyanti Hj Raya together with Aimi Amalina Zainidi, bagged the gold medal with a score of 468. East Kalimantan's trio of Ika Susanti, Heni Rusnawati and Susi Hayati came in second with a score of 464.
Prior to the games, Hj Abd Razak Hj Md Dali, the manager of the national pencak silat team, had told The Brunei Times that he expects the hosts to dominate in the sport which is held for the first time in the Games.
"The performance was good today (Tuesday) as the athletes made little mistakes. All the daily training that was done from the morning till night has paid off," said Hj Abd Razak.
"I'm very satisfied with the results and we will stay back to train and hopefully perform to our best for tomorrow (Wednesday)," added Hj Abd Razak.
Meanwhile, the silat head coach, Pg Hj Md Shahepul Radin Pg Hj Tejudin, was equally impressed with the performance of his athletes especially that they have trained hard even during the fasting month prior to the Games.
"We were aiming for three gold medals and we were able to achieve it.
"I'm very satisfied with the performance of my athletes and I am proud of them. Hopefully we can manage to win more medals tomorrow (Wednesday)," said Pg Hj Shahepul Radin.
When asked on what he expects from today's competition, Pg Hj Shahepul Radin replied: "Definitely we are hoping to gain more medals because from today's (Tuesday) success. We are hoping to keep the team motivated to achieve more. But I know that East Kalimantan will be tough competitors as well so we have to perform better in order to win."
When asked on what he expects from today's competition, Pg Hj Shahepul Radin replied: "Definitely we are hoping to gain more medals because from today's (Tuesday) success. We are hoping to keep the team motivated to achieve more. But I know that East Kalimantan will be tough competitors as well so we have to perform better in order to win."
The competition continues today with Eddy Ratno Hj Abu Bakar competing in the boys' singles event.
Norleyharyanti and Nurul Aimi Amalina, on the other hand, will be teaming up in the girls' doubles competition.
The team of Abd Malik Hj Ladi, Md Amin Ali and Md Jufri Junaidi will participate in the boys' triples event.
The first event is slated to commence at 2.30pm with the prize giving ceremony to be held right after the events.
Courtesy from Brunei Times
