The national petanque team successfully retained their crown at the 4th Sabah Double Open Petanque Championship at Kota Kinabalu in Sabah on Sunday.
The duo of the Muhd Abdillah Tamin and Hj Mohammad Sahmedeyn Hj Kahar defeated the Malaysian Navy Team 13-10 in the final to be crowned the champions of the doubles event.
Mohd Nur Eddy Azmi also did the country proud after finishing first in the singles event.
Mazlan Hj Yahya and Muhd Abdillah won gold in the previous edition of the tournament in 2012 and they also emerged as champions in the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2010.
"I am very happy that we achieved our target of retaining the title this year," said Mazlan in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.
Mazlan who also acted as the coach of the team partnered Wirna Hj Mohd Yassin in the double event and only managed to finish third after losing to team from Perak 13-12 in the semi-final.
"The players have improved over the months in terms of technique and strength, they growing mature (as players) with time," continued Mazlan.
"All the hard work and training is finally paying off, I can say that we dominated the tournament this year.
"There were more than 70 teams coming from Borneo and peninsular Malaysia competed in the tournament, while some of them used to play petanque at the international level.
The Sultanate sent 10 teams to compete in the doubles event this year and two other Bruneian teams finished fourth and fifth in the category.
"I hope that all the players will be able to keep their form for future tournaments.
"But for now we will be having a break and training will resume early next year," added Mazlan.
Three national players, Zunaidi Ali, Hj Hamidon Hj Hamid and Hj Yussof Hj Mohammad, as well as national coach Somsak Juychunprasert are currently in Myanmar competing in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for Brunei Darussalam.
