Shahrul suffers medal heartbreak after leaping to fourth

Good effort: Sharul Aimy in action during the men’s vault final. — Reuters

PETALING JAYA: Mohd Sharul Aimy came agonisingly close to Malaysia’s first Commonwealth Games medal in two decades but had to settle for a heartbreaking fourth place in the men’s vault final.

The 24-year-old produced two superb vaults but narrowly missed the podium after scoring 13.733 points, tying with Cyprus’ Neofytos Kyriakou at the Glasgow International Arena last night.

However, Kyriakou claimed the bronze on a tiebreak after earning the higher execution score, while also securing Cyprus’ first-ever Commonwealth Games medal in the men’s vault.

In a very tight contest, Felix Dolci of Canada snatched the gold with 13.766 points while Luke Whitehouse of England settled for silver with 13.749.

It was the second final appearance for Sharul in the men’s artistic gymnastic competition in Glasgow.

A slight landing error in the floor exercise final on Monday dashed his hopes of securing a podium finish as he eventually was placed last with 12.566 points.

The last time Malaysia won an artistic gymnastics medal at the Commonwealth Games was when Ng Shu Wai claimed silver in the men’s floor exercise at the 2006 Melbourne edition.

Shu Wai, who is now the national coach, also won silver in the same event at the 2002 Manchester Games.