M’sia finish third at Asean Schools Games, thanks to athletics and wushu stars

Solid show: Dzul Danish Jamari (right) and Danish Irfan Tamrin won the 100m and 200m gold respectively.

PETALING JAYA: Impressive performances by the athletics and wushu teams helped propel Malaysia to clinch the third overall spot in the 14th Asean School Games in Brunei.

The curtains came down on the Games yesterday with Malaysia finishing with a total of 14 gold, 16 silver and 27 bronze medals.

Out of the eight sports participated by Malaysia, only badminton and basketball did not produce a gold medallist.

The athletics team contributed five gold, five silver and eight bronze medals to rank third behind Thailand (9-3-4) and Philippines (9-9-3).

Dzul Danish Jamari was the toast of the team by grabbing the boys’ 100m gold medal with a time of 10.54s.

Danish Irfan Tamrin completed a superb double for Malaysia by winning the boys’ 200m gold medal in 21.44s.

Both Dzul and Danish will return home as double gold medallists as Malaysia also swept the boys’ 4x100m title.

The other gold medals for Malaysia came from Rico Andrew, who leapt 14.78m to win the boys’ triple jump, and the girls’ 4x400m.

Malaysian wushu team roared as the second biggest contributors with four gold, two silver and two bronze.

Malaysia just topped the overall standings for wushu ahead of hosts Brunei, who won four gold and three bronze medals.

Asian Junior wushu champion Kwang Yong Xin, who was also the flagbearer for the contingent, led the show of power by winning the girls’ 42 form taijiquan and taijijian combined event.

Right: Kwang Yong Xin came out victorious in the girls’ 42 form taijiquan and taijijian combined event.

The gold medals in wushu came from Lim Kai Shen (boys’ 42 form taiqiquan and taijijian combined), Logan Lim (boys’ nanquan and nandao combined) and Chlamous Wong (boys’ 24 form taijiquan and taijijian combined).

“This outstanding achievement did not come easy. When the youth development are strong, only then we can hope for the future of the sport to be bright.

“We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all organising committees, technical teams, judges and every individual who worked tirelessly both on the front line and behind the scenes,” said Datuk Chong Kim Fatt, the Wushu Federation of Malaysia president.

Silat gave two golds through Mohd Raqib Darwisy Mohd Shahrizan (Putera 55-59kg) and Nur Afiqa Johar (Puteri Tung­gal).

Sepaktakraw contributed one gold medal with Malaysia beating Myanmar 2-1 in the boys’ doubles final while netball emerged as the champions with an impressive 46-36 final win over Singapore.

Swimmer Sophocles Ng Xinxian bagged the only gold medal from the pool with his victory in the boys’ 200m breaststroke final.