Siti Rahmah overcomes sadness to clinch gold

KUALA LUMPUR: Although her younger brother is in a coma in the hospital following an accident, national silat exponent Siti Rahmah Mohamed Nasir still went all out to contribute the gold medal to the nation in the 2017 SEA Games pencak silat event.
The 30-year-old silat exponent from Terengganu defended her gold medal in the women's Class E tanding event (65-70kg) after beating Pipiet Kamelia from Indonesia 5-0 in the final at the Stadium Juara, Bukit Kiara here.
The 2016 national female athlete award recipient said she received a call on the accident of her brother, Uthman Mohamed Nasir, 23, early yesterday morning and immediately rushed to the Sungai Buloh Hospital.
The three-time consecutive world champion later competed in the semi-finals without proper sleep and rest yesterday and defeated Barckkam Paloy from Laos, before confirming her gold medal today.
"I was the first person to receive the call at 4am yesterday because all my family members were in Kuala Terengganu. They should have arrived here at night to give their support to me but had to come earlier because of my younger brother," she said.
Siti Rahmah indicated that the SEA Games this time might be her last after winning the bronze in her first appearance at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, before winning the gold in Singapore two years ago.
She is expected to compete in the World Championship and Asian Games in Indonesia next year before retiring.
The bronze medal in the Class E tanding event was won by Barckkam and Nguyen Thi Yen from Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's 10th gold medal in pencak silat was contributed by Muhammad Robial Sobri, who defeated Le Si Kien from Vietnam in the Men's Class H tanding event (80-85kg).
Surasak Deklee from Thailand and Anton Yuspermana from Indonesia had to be content with the bronze after losing in the semifinals. — Bernama