PETALING JAYA: As soon as Nur Izzati Yaakob received her incentive for being part of the Hanoi SEA Games bronze-medal winning women’s 5x5 basketball team, she had only one thought in mind – to do better the next time around.
The Malaysian Basketball Association (MABA) kept to their word and presented the RM10,000 incentive to each player in the team.
RM15,000 each was also given to the head coach, Low Tong and assistant coach Madam Thoh Chai Ling.
Izzati feels that the incentive will push her and her teammates to reach greater heights.
“Yes, we will try to achieve better results in the next SEA Games. We are very grateful to receive this incentive from MABA president Datuk Seri Lee Tian Hock and would like to thank him,” said Izzati.
The 33-year-old has decided that the biennial Games next year in Cambodia will be her sixth and last and she will be looking for a glorious ending.
Izzati already has two golds (2015 and 2017) and three bronzes (2011 and 2013) in her collection.
On her latest bronze medal, Izzati was proud of the team’s efforts despite all the challenges they faced.
“The team gave their all to win this bronze. Even with our short preparation time, everyone worked together and were very motivated,” said Izzati.
Meanwhile, Tian Hock is sticking to the same target of one silver and two bronzes for the next Games, despite not being able to achieve it this time.
“Although we have only one year to prepare for it, I have full confidence in the national team that they will be able to achieve my goal. We will face almost similar opponents as we did in Vietnam and I believe the men and women’s teams will play with more maturity and we can get a different result this time,” explained Tian Hock.
Tian Hock also vowed that the teams will analyse and correct their weaknesses to become better.
