Brunei dominate pencak silat with 3 golds, 3 silvers

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

BRUNEI captured three silver medals yesterday to win the overall championship in the pencak silat competition of the 3rd Borneo Games at the Youth Centre at the capital.

The hosts, who kicked off their campaign with three gold medals on Tuesday, showed their supremacy in the sport which has been included in the Borneo Games for the first time.

The boys’ triples event was won by the trio of Heri Usianto, Abdul Mukid and Zakki Imadudin from East Kalimantan after they put 470 points on the scoresheet.

The Brunei team of Mohd Amin Ali, Abd Malik Hj Ladi and Md Jufri Hj Junaidi tallied 466 points while Sarawak’s team of Ahmad Nazri Abd Bakar, Mohd Faiz Farhat Abas followed in third place with a score of 463.

With only two teams competing in the girls’ doubles, the duo of Nurbayani Fadzil and Heidy Diana Suip bagged the gold also accumulating a score of 525 while the Bruneian pair of Norleyharyanti and Nurul Aimi Amalina managed 509 points.

The boys’ singles event saw Dwi Chandra Wijaya win the gold with a score of 466 while Eddy Ratno Hj Abu Bakar tallied 463 after dropping his head gear midway through his performance.

Fikri Yakup pocketed the bronze with a score of 451 while the sole athlete to fly the flag for Labuan, Eddy Fadli Jarman was in fourth place with a score of 401.

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.

“I feel disappointed with the results today (Wednesday) but at least we still managed the silver medals as they had tried their best,” said Hj Abd Razak.

“However, I’m very satisfied that we managed to come out on top as the overall champions.

“Now we plan to continue on our training to improve our mistakes and our performance further especially our mentality,” he added.

Meanwhile, the silat head coach, Pg Hj Md Shahepul Radin Pg Hj Tejudin, was just as disappointed as the manager but was satisfied with the overall performance of the team.

“I’m disappointed as I was aiming for at least two gold and one silver medal today (Wednesday) but overall I’m very satisfied that we were named the overall champions,” said Pg Hj Md Shahepul Radin.

“Some of them made a few costly mistakes and we wasted our chances on getting the gold for the boys’ singles as he dropped his head gear which caused him points which could have been the difference.”

The national silat coach had earlier mentioned that East Kalimantan was going to be tough competitors and he was correct after they captured two of the three gold medals on offer yesterday.

Pg Hj Shahepul Radin said that after the Borneo Games, the athletes will start preparation for the SUKMA (Malaysian Games) which will be held next year.

“We will continue our training to pick up the pieces as we want to prepare for SUKMA (Malaysian Games) next year and also the world championships. What we need to do is to improve on our mentality.”

The guest of honour, Sabali Abas, the permanent secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, awarded the medals during the awarding ceremony.

The Brunei Times

Latest by Yee Chun Leong:

number of view: 404