PETALING JAYA: It was a delightful international debut for pencak silat exponent Mohd Raqib Darwisy as he delivered Malaysia's first medal at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain by taking bronze in the Putera 59-63kg category.
The 16-year-old fought his way to the semi-finals where he beat Filipino rival Eluna Jelou 40-13 to assure Malaysia of a medal.
Raqib's hopes of making it to the final was dashed after he was disqualified for a technical foul in the semi-final against Uzbekistan's Ruziboev Nurislom.
The losing semi-finalists are awarded the bronze medals.
The Uzbekistan fighter went on to claim gold, beating Bikboev Temir of Kyrgyzstan 46-16 in the final.
Another Malaysian exponent Noor Wafadina Mohd Rasidi lost in the quarter-finals to Uzbekistan's Feruza Bozorova on a technical ruling in the Puteri 51-55kg category.
Chef de mission Farah Ann Hadi congratulated Raqib for the bronze start for Malaysia in pencak silat, which is making its debut in the Asian Youth Games.
"He put on a fight and left his heart on the fighting mat. Very proud of all the work that he had put in to win this medal," Farah posted in her Instagram account.
Malaysia are represented by 116 young athletes (51 boys and 65 girls) to participate in 17 out of 26 sports, namely athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, equestrian, e-sports, golf, judo, muay, pencak silat, table tennis, taekwondo, teqball, triathlon, volleyball and weightlifting.
