MANILA: Former men’s artistic gymnastics whiz, Ng Shu Wai, is on course to repeating SEA Games success as a coach.
The 2004 Olympian made his SEA Games competitive debut in the Kuala Lumpur edition in 2001, claiming two gold and two silver medals, then enjoyed better success at the 2005 SEA Games competition here — at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum — with a medal haul of three golds and a silver.
Afterwards, the 34-year-old competed in the Athens Olympics and brought home the silver from the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2006.
After retiring in 2007, and subsequently inducted into the Olympic Council of Malaysia Hall of Fame in 2012, Ng returned to the national set up as coach in late 2015, assisting Russian coach, Natalia Sinkova.
His first test as coach was the SEA Games in Malaysia two years ago where the artistic gymnastics team won five gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
In the midst of a coaching session at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum recently, he told Bernama: “So, I am now doing one circle again for myself. I feel very excited and it’s a very good memory for me. I am very proud to bring our gymnasts here to win medals at the same place.
“When you are an athlete, you feel like the coach’s job is easy, but now when I stand behind them, I feel: ‘Wow, coaches do a lot of things’. You need to prepare everything for them — physically and mentally.”
As of today, Ng and Sinkova have ensured the national artistic gymnastics team returns home with a 5-1-3 (gold-silver-bronze) haul from the total 12 golds at stake.
Ng’s next major assignment is to guide Farah Ann Abdul Hadi in her 2020 Tokyo Olympics debut. — Bernama
