Latest news with #SeaGames
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Time trial ace Aiman eyes Sea Games breakthrough
KUALA LUMPUR: Nur Aiman Rosli has set his sights on winning Sea Games gold after enjoying his best-ever outing at the National Road Cycling Championships which concluded in Johor yesterday (June 1). Muar-born Aiman achieved a prestigious double-gold feat in Pagoh, winning both the men's individual time trial for a sixth time as well as clinching his breakthrough victory in the road race. "Winning in my hometown, on the roads I grew up riding definitely meant a lot to me," said Aiman when contacted today (June 2). "I had come close to winning the road race a number of times previously and was finally able to do it this year." Aiman has gone from strength to strength since joining Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) at the end of the 2023 season. He finished fourth in the Asian Championships road race in Almaty, Kazakhstan last year and has placed in the top-10 in the individual time trial at the Asian meet for the last two years. The 26-year-old is now hoping to achieve a breakthrough victory at the Thailand Sea Games in December. "For the Sea Games, my target is to win gold in either the time trial or road race. I had won bronze previously (Hanoi 2021), so in my third appearance at the games I want to win gold. "For the time trial, I believe Thailand's Peerapol Chawchiangkwang will again be one of the favourites while Indonesia's Aiman Cahyadi will also be right up there. "Peerapol is the defending champion and he will also have home ground advantage. Aiman has won it before and is very experienced. "I was the second fastest Southeast Asian rider (behind Peerapol) at the Asian Championships (Thailand, Feb), which gives me a good baseline to work on. "I've been told the time trial route is relatively flat which should give me a chance to fight for the gold. I will definitely give it my best." Peerapol won the individual time trial gold when the discipline was last included at the 2021 Hanoi Sea Games - held in 2022 due to Covid-19 - when Aiman placed third. Aiman Cahyadi won the individual time trial gold during the 2019 Manila edition. Malaysia has won the road race gold at the last two editions of the games through Nur Aiman Zariff (Hanoi 2021) and Nur Amirull Fakhruddin Mazuki (Phnom Penh 2023). The duo are both Aiman's teammates at TSG. Aiman Rosli and the TSG squad immediately left for South Korea after the conclusion of the national championships yesterday. They are competing in the Tour of Gyeongnam (June 4-8) this week.
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Aniq hopes weightlifters can end two-decade drought at the Sea Games
KUALA LUMPUR: National weightlifter Aniq Kasdan is hoping he and his teammates can end Malaysia's long wait for a gold medal in the sport at the Thailand Sea Games in December. Malaysia has not won a gold medal at biennial games since the late Che Mohd Azrol Che Mat won back-to-back golds at Hanoi 2003 and Manila 2005. Aniq assured that Malaysian weightlifters will definitely give it their all in Bangkok. "Of course we will try our best to win gold at the Sea Games," said Aniq when met recently. "We have not won a Sea Games gold in a very long time, in fact the person who last won gold for us has passed away. "The closest we have got recently was through Aznil Bidin who won silver (men's under-61kg) at the Hanoi Sea Games. "If possible, we want to do better than that this time." Aniq set a new national record at the time en route to winning bronze in the men's under-55kg class at Hanoi 2021. He has since moved up to the under-61kg class, which has now been abolished. Aniq, who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics last year, will compete in the new under-60kg class from now on and expects the competition to be just as fierce. Aznil and Aniq did not compete at the 2023 Phnom Penh Sea Games as they were focusing on qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Malaysia won one gold at the Phnom Penh games through Nur Syazwani Radzi (women's under-64kg). "I think the countries which are usually strong at the Sea Games will continue to be just as good," said Aniq, a four-time world championship medallist. "However, with this change in weight class, there could be some new contenders. We just have to wait and see." Indonesia's Eko Yuli Irawan, who won gold in the Under-61kg division at Phnom Penh 2023 is again expected to be among the favourites. The 37-year-old is a four-time Olympic medallist. Thailand's Theerapong Silachai, who clinched silver at last year's Paris Olympics, is also expected to be among the favourites. Like Aniq, the 21-year-old is also a rising star in his country.
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Alarming wake-up call for Malaysia in Gumi
KUALA LUMPUR: This is an alarming wake-up call for Malaysian athletics. And the national association had better buck up before it's too late, before Malaysia flop again in track and field at the December Sea Games in Thailand. Malaysia have just found out that they are far behind their Southeast Asian rivals in athletics. The national squad won only one bronze medal in the Asian Athletics Championships which ended in Gumi, South Korea on Saturday. In comparison, the Philippines won one gold and Thailand took four silvers and three bronzes. Singapore bagged two silvers and Vietnam got one silver and one bronze. This does not augur well for Malaysia in track and field at the Sea Games; the writing is on the wall in Gumi. A total of 29 Malaysian athletes (18 men and 11 women) competed in the Asian Championships. Forty-five golds were at stake, and Malaysia could only win one bronze, through Irfan Shamsuddin in men's discus with an effort of 58.82m. It was Irfan's third medal in five Asian appearances; he won silver in Bhubaneswar, 2017 and bronze in Bangkok in 2023. China topped the medals table in Gumi with 19 golds, nine silvers and four bronzes, India (8-10-6) were second and Japan (5-11-12) third. Despairingly for Malaysia, even established athletes like Shereen Samson Vallabouy, Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, Russel Alexander Nasir Taib, Grace Wong and Queenie Ting flopped in Gumi. There were high expectations on the United States-based Shereen, winner of the women's 400m bronze in the 2023 Asian Games. But she clocked a poor 54.80 (way off her national record of 51.79) to finish a disappointing fifth in the heats and even failed to qualify for the semi-finals. Khairul, who won the men's 100m gold in the 2017 KL Sea Games, has a personal best (PB) of 10.18, but clocked 10.71 to finish sixth in the heats. Zaidatul, who holds the national women's 100m record of 11.49, ran a season best of 11.65 in the heats, but in the final, clocked 12.01 to finish eighth and last. Russel, who has a 200m PB of 20.71, failed to qualify for the semi-finals. He clocked 21.71 to finish fifth in the heats. Hammer thrower Grace recorded 59.15m to finish 10th among 12 athletes, and her effort was three metres short of her 62.48m national record. Queenie recorded 47.96m — more than four metres short of her national 52.77m record — in the women's discus to finish eighth among 10 athletes. The men's 4x100m quartet were disqualified after a botched final baton exchange. They really need to improve on this for the Sea Games. The few commendable performances came from Sea Games bronze medallist Wan Fazri Wan Zahari, who did a PB of 1:47.64 in the men's 800m heats to finish fourth. It was a whisker away from the national record of 1:47.37 set by B. Rajkumar in 1985. Wan Fazri's time was better than the Sea Games record of 1:48.29 set by Malaysia's Samson Vallabouy in 1989. Newcomer Armin Zahryl Abdul Latif clocked a PB of 13.85 in the men's 110m hurdles to finish third in his heats. It's better than the bronze medal time of 13.86 clocked by Filipino John Cabang in the 2023 Sea Games. Sea Games champion Umar Osman ran a season best of 46.25 in the men's 400m final to finish eighth. Jonah Chang also did a season best of 18.05m in men's shot putt to finish 10th among 15 athletes. Team manager Datuk R. Annamalai said that some athletes could not perform to their best due to lack of competitions. "The only competition the national athletes had this year was the Cahya Mata Super Series at Merdeka Stadium last month, but some of the field athletes did not get a chance because there were no throwing events. "Our athletes need exposure and we will be sending them for more competitions like the Thailand Open this month." Malaysia Athletics (MA), which will be having elections on June 15 to elect office bearers, needs a president who is able to raise the standards of the nation's athletes. At the 2023 Sea Games, a total of 48 golds were offered in track and field, but Malaysian athletes won only five golds, three silvers and 11 bronzes, which was rather disappointing. MA has only six months to get its athletes in shape for the Sea Games or else Malaysian athletes can expect to be also-rans in the biennial regional showcase.
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Quiet show by Malaysian athletes on last day in Gumi
Aftar Singh HL Quiet show by Malaysian athletes on last day in Gumi KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's women's 4x100m finished sixth in the Asian Athletics Championships at the Gumi Civic Stadium in South Korea today. The quartet of Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, Azreen Nabila Alias, Nur Afrina Batrisyia Rizal and Nur Aishah Rofina Aling clocked 44.75. They had set a national record of 44.58 to win bronze in the 2023 Sea Games. In Gumi, the Chinese team (43.28) won gold, India (43.86) and Thailand (44.26) took the silver and bronze respectively. In men's pole vault, Naufal Shahrul Afzam, who has a personal best of 5.10m, cleared 4.97m to finish 14th out of 15 athletes. World Championships silver medallist Ernst John Obiena of the Philippines (5.77m) won gold, China's Huang Bokai (5.72m) and Thailand's Patsapong Amsamarng (5.67m) finished second and third respectively. Malaysia ended the five-day Asian meet with one bronze medal delivered by Irfan Shamsuddin in men's discus.
New Straits Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
MPC power to team time trial national title
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC) left no room for drama as they clinched a comfortable victory in the men's team time trial event at the National Road Cycling Championships in Johor today. MPC's Faiz Fakhri Omar, Ariff Danial Roseidi, Akmal Hakim Zakaria and Zahin Wahhi stopped the clock at one hour, six minutes and 5.709 seconds (48.45km/h average) to take the gold. Police's Elmi Jumari, Shaiful Adlan Shukri and brothers Ameer and Ameen Ahmad Kamal took second place (1:07:27.303s) while Aquatwo Cyclomotion (Iqmal Mohd Zarawi, Nasrul Firas Ridzuan and Zamirul Azrezza Zulkefli) finished third on 1:11:14.338s. The 53.4km course started and ended at Kolej Vokasional Pagoh in Muar. Heavyweights Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG), however, opted not to compete in the event. MPC team principal Sayuti Zahit said it was a positive start for his squad, who are only competing in their second edition of the national championships since the team was founded in late 2023. "This is the first time they (national body) have included the team time trial in the national championships. I believe it is part of our preparations for the Thailand Sea Games this year," said Sayuti when contacted in Pagoh today. "We assumed TSG would race but they chose not to compete. "But still, it was a solid performance from our boys. Police had some good riders in their team, including the Ahmad Kamal brothers who are former Sea Games gold medallists. "We only used road bikes instead of time trial bikes so to get 48km/h average is a good achievement. "It has been a positive start for us here and we hope to continue racing well in the individual time trial and road race." The men's and women's individual time trial events will be held tomorrow (May 30) while the men's and women's mass start road races will be held on Sunday (June 1).
