Gun salute for Bibiana, kick in the gut for Syafiq

KUALA LUMPUR: Shooter Bibiana Ng’s (pic) wish to compete at the Asian Games was granted by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) but they shot down the appeal for the inclusion of SEA Games taekwondo gold medallist Syafiq Zuber as the contingent for Hangzhou was finalised yesterday.

Bibiana, 46, met the qualifying mark of 571 in the women’s 10m pistol at the Tun Haniff Cup in January but the veteran had to wait until the last minute for her inclusion under category A.

Her inclusion means the shooting squad will have six shooters under category A. The others confirmed earlier are pistol shooters Johnathan Wong, Nurul Syasya Nadiah Arifin, Alia Sazana Azahari and rifle shooters Haritz Iklil Hessly Hafiz and Nur Suryani Taibi.

The OCM also approved four shooters under category B. They are Joseline Cheah (women’s pistol), Alia Husna Budruddin (women’s rifle), trap shooter Bernard Yeoh and skeet shooter Joseph Lee.

However, kyorugi exponent Syafiq wasn’t fortunate as an appeal by Taekwondo Malaysia to include the two-time SEA Games champion was turned down by the OCM.

National Sports Council (NSC) athletes division director Jefri Ngadirin, who also attended the Asian Games team managers’ meeting chaired by OCM president Tan Sri Norza Zakari, said Syafiq did not meet the selection criteria.

“Athletes under category A must be in the top four at the 2018 Asian Games or at the Asian level while category B requires the athletes to be in the top eight. Syafiq is currently only ranked around 12th position,” said Jefri.

“Bibiana and a few other athletes have met the cricteria and had earned their spots under the two categories.

“Since the deadline for entry is July 15, we cannot add any more athletes. However, a few cases are being referred for inclusion as their names are in the long list but it can only be done with the approval from the organisers.”

Taekwondo will still has a representative in the poomsae event where Jason Loo and Nurul Hidayah Abdul Karim, the 2022 World Championships mixed pair silver medallists, will fight under category A.

Malaysia won a bronze in the women’s individual bronze through Yap Khim Wen at the Jakarta Games in 2018 while the shooters returned empty-handed.

Chef-de-mission Datuk Chong Kim Fatt said that Malaysia will be sending a contingent of 401 members that include 293 athletes and 108 officials.

“We had our first team managers’ meeting and it has been decided that we will have a contingent of 401 athletes and officials from 23 sports,” said Kim Fatt.

“I don’t think there will be an increase in the number of athletes as the deadline for submission has passed and we are only allowed to drop athletes if there are injuries.

“We have visited the Games Village in Hangzhou and there are no issues when it comes to accommodation and food. They have always prepared a halal area at the canteen which is spacious and clean.”

The hockey squad, with 18 players and eight officials, will have the biggest team and will compete under Category A.

Athletics will have the largest number of individual athletes, where five are under category A and 16 are under category B.

Jefri also confirmed that there will be no centralised training for the Asian Games contingent as a majority of the athletes are currently involved in international competitions or undergoing training stints in various countries.