SEA Games Aug 26 Roundup

Nur Dhabitah endures pain to deliver silver
Kuala Lumpur SEA Games cauldron lighter, Nur Dhabitah Sabri who collected a silver medal in the women's 3m springboard at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil today was not at her best during the competition.
According to the 18-year-old national diver, she suffered a bad fall while doing a somersault in her warming up for the event.
"In the middle of my warm up, I accidentally landed flat on my back and passed out for a moment.
"I was numb for a while below my neck ... felt nothing. They (coaches and officers) asked me to go for an examination but I insisted on proceeding with the event and have a check up later," she said.

Nur Dhabitah is also scheduled for two more events, the 1m springboard tomorrow and the 3m synchronised springboard with Wendy Ng on Tuesday.
"I hope my body will recover on time to put up a better performance. In today's event, my coach was satisfied as I actually dived well despite being in pain," she said.
The gold was claimed by Wendy Ng after collecting 342.95 points while the bronze was bagged by Singapore's Ashlee Tan Yi Xuan with 233.60 points.

Defending champion Thailand squeeze into final after injury time goal against Myanmar
Defending champion Thailand squeezed into the final of the men's football competition after beating Myanmar 1-0 late into injury time at the Selayang Stadium today.
Skipper Chenrop Samphaodi was the toast of the Thais when he headed in an injury time goal after six minutes was added at the end of regulation time (90 minutes) by the referee, forcing the Myanmar players to fall on their knees with disappointment.
Thailand who had started their Group B matches in not so impressive fashion, picked up the momentum in their final group match against Vietnam, beating their arch rival 3-0, to make it to the semifinal and maintain their gold medal hopes.
Despite their impressive form against Vietnam on Thursday, Thailand failed to find the target against a hardworking Myanmar side who defended stoutly until the 90th minute and fifth minute of injury time before the killer blow came from a perfect cross from the left.
The defeat saw Myanmar's gold medal drought in football continue since 1973 (Myanmar won the gold when the country was known as Burma).
Speaking to reporters after the game, Thailand head coach Worrawoot Srimaka praised boys and claimed the side was ready to play either Malaysia or Indonesia in the final.
"At this stage we have no fear, we can face either Indonesia or Malaysia in the final. We will do our best as we want to offer our people a great memory," he said.

Azizul: Kl2017, my last SEA Games
Reigning world keirin champion Azizulhasni Awang says the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017) will be his last appearance to give way to other cyclists apart from allowing him to focus on the Commonwealth Games and the Tokyo Olympics.
He said he made his debut in Korat, Thailand in 2007 while KL2017 would be his last SEA Games and competing before his home fans this time had made it sweeter for him.
"After this I will give way to the younger generation of riders for them to get more exposure," he told reporters after a training session at the National Velodrome here today.
"I'm very excited to ride before our own fans, many of whom have never seen me live in action, so come to the velodrome to cheer for us," he said.
"Hopefully more Malaysians will have the chance see tracking cycling and understand the sport better," he added.
Tracking cycling will start tomorrow with the women's Omnium, men's and women's team sprint and men's scratch.

Malaysian rhythmic gymnasts dazzle their way to gold
Malaysian rhythmic gymnasts sashayed their way to the team gold at the 29th SEA Games here today.
Amy Kwan Dict Weng, Koi Sie Yan and Izzah Amzan dazzled judges and spectators to clinch the gold with a score of 153.100 points edging leading contenders Thailand who collected 122.550 points while Singapore took the bronze with 116.300 points.
The event was last held in 2007 Korat SEA Games.
Izzah,17, told reporters of her joy of winning the gold medal in her first SEA Games outing.
"Even though I will be sitting for my SPM, I practised hard to present Malaysia with a gold medal in this event," said the Mentakab lass.
Malaysian team manager Dr Farrah-Hani Imran said the team's strategy to rest another gymnast, Chong Lok Yi, worked to their benefit.
"Coaches will decide just before competition whom they think is the best gymnast at that moment to compete.
"It is Lok Yi's debut in the SEA Games and she has just become a senior gymnast this year. So there will be ample opportunities for her in future. We are also giving junior gymnasts like Izzah the opportunity to shine," she said.
Five countries - Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines - participated in the team category involving the hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon events.

One silver, two bronze on first day of judo
Malaysia won a silver and bronze on the opening day of the judo competition in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here today.
Chong Wei Fu had to be satisfied with the silver after losing 0-1 to defending champion Mochammad Syaiful Raharjo of Indonesia in the men's below 66kg category.
The bronze was shared by Philippines and Thailand.
"I am very disappointed because we have not won a judo gold for some time. I wanted to end the wait but did not succeed but nevertheless this medal is special to me because it was won on home soil," he told reporters afterwards.
Farhan Uzair Fikri and Nor Izzatul Fazlia Tahir won the bronze in the men's below 73kg and women's below 78kg categories respectively.
The last time Malaysia won a silver in the SEA Games was at the Laos edition in 2009. It was won by Marjan Abdullah who is currently the coach of the national judo squad.
Judo offers six gold in this edition.

National sailors almost sure of two gold tomorrow
The national sailing team are poised to repeat their victory in the men's International 420 in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games when the team retained their top position after the ninth race here today.
The combination of Muhammad Uzair Amin Mohd Yusof and Naquib Eiman Shahrin are leading Singapore and Thailand with 11 penalty points in the event.
In the International 470 event, Mohamad Faizal Norizan and Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz maintained their momentum with a nine penalty point margin ahead of Thailand and Philippines.
In this regard, the women's International 470 team of Nuraisyah Jamil and Norashikin Mohd Sayed are trailing Singapore in the second place by just one penalty point.
Meanwhile Naquib when met said they could not afford to be complacent with their position as anything can in the last minute.
He cautioned that they should remain focused and not to make mistakes or get disqualified.
Tomorrow, four medal-awarding races will be held at the National Sailing Complex involving the women's and men's International 420, and the women's and men's International 470 events.


Malaysia win inaugural men's indoor hockey gold
Malaysia convincingly beat Indonesia 5-1 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre to claim the inaugural men's indoor hockey which made its debut in 29th SEA Games.
Singapore took bronze.
In the final played at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre here today, Malaysia took the lead as early as the fourth minute through Mohd Shafiq Yaacob's field goal before adding two penalty corners strikes into into goals in the 19th and 23rd minutes through Shazril Irwan Nazli and captain Muhammad Najib Abu Hassan.
Malaysia then scored another field goal in the 25th minute through Syed Mohamad Syafiq Syed Cholan while Muhammad Amirol Aideed Mohd Arshad added the fifth in the 39th minute.
Indonesia's only goal of the match was scored by Alvin Nourul Saepul Mimbar in the 38th minute through a penalty corner strike.
Coach Amin Rahim told reporters later that he was thankful for the gold because the squad had only about five months to train before competing in KL2017.
A beaming Muhammad Najib praised his teammates for their fighting spirit.
Meanwhile, the women's squad had clinched the bronze yesterday.

Malaysia retain women's basketball gold after epic battle

Malaysia's women cagers retained the SEA Games gold medal after defeating Thailand 65-60 in an epic battle at the MABA Stadium here today.
The girls coached by Yoong Sze Yuin were behind 12-26 in the first quarter and left for the break with the score standing at 35-39 in favour of the Thais.
In the third quarter, the Malaysians led by Nur Izzati Yaakob upped the ante and led 51-49.
Towards the end of the last quarter, the score was deadlocked at 60-60 but the it was the Malaysians who had the slight edge and won 65-60.
For the record, this is the 14th gold medal for Malaysia in SEA Games women's basketball since it was introduced in 1977.
Yoong said she was proud of the performance of her charges saying they did not buckle under the intense pressure.
"They gave it their all and the home crowd's roar of support certainly helped," she said.
Indonesia won the bronze.
Hower, the men's squad were a far cry, finishing in fifth place.

Gabriel returns parents' love with gold medal
Young national diver, Gabriel Gilbert Daim, 16 has proved himself to be more than a just novice at the on-going 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017) when he surprised many including his parents with a gold medal feat with diving queen Pandelela Rinong Pamg today.
His father Gilbert Daim has always encouraged his son to take up diving but it did not occur to him that young Gabriel would go on represent the country at the KL2017 and even delivered a gold medal to reciprocate his support and confidence.
"It is the dream of my wife and I to see Gabriel go far but not at this SEA Games," said Gilbert Daim, 46, from Kota Kinabalu.
Gabriel paired up with Pandelela to score 345.40 points and clinch the gold medal ahead of Freida Lim Shen-Jonathan Chan Fan of Singapore who took the silver medal with 335.55 points.
Gilbert said his son had put in a lot of effort during training and was selected to study at Bukit Jalil Sports School several years ago. — Bernama