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Md Faisal, two others clinch bronze medals in athletics
Wednesday, 2nd December 2009


BRUNEI failed to defend their title in the team event after absorbing a 2-1 loss to Sabah yesterday in the sepak takraw competition of the Borneo Games at the Sg Kebun Sports Complex in Lumapas.BRUNEI won three bronze medals during the first day of the 3rd Borneo Games athletics competition at a wet Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas yesterday.

All the medals came from track events.

Maziah Mahusin won bronze in the women's 800 metres race after clocking 2:37.73, with Sabah's Farina Basirin winning gold with 2:32.57. Sabah also won silver in the event through Salesnella Gabi (2:37.67).

Siti Fatimah Yussof finished third in the women's long jump with 4.87 metres. Kee Siew Lian won the event for Sarawak with a jump of 5.41 metres, followed by Sabah's Siti Norazimah Mohd with 5.18 metres.

The highlight was definitely Md Faisal Ahad who won bronze in the men's 100 metres race after clocking 11.17.

Sarawak's Ambrose Jilom won gold after clocking 10.94 and Sabah's Eddie Edward Jr finished second with 11.08.

"This is my second best time of the season but am not really happy with the result because I thought I had a 50/50 chance of winning gold," said Md Faisal.

"I think I did not win because of the weather conditions.

"I am running the 200 metres tomorrow (Wednesday) and I am hoping for gold again, though silver will not be bad either," he added.

The 17-year-old Ambrose said he could not have tasted victory without his friends.

"My target was just to reach the final and I was not thinking about medals at all," said the native from Miri.

"I think I did it because of my friends - they really encouraged me a lot and gave me confidence.

"My coach said it is better to target a time rather than a medal and we were aiming for less than 10.90, so I hope he will accept this," said the Riam Road Secondary School student with a cheeky smile.

His previous best time was 10.91 which he ran at a meet in Kuala Lumpur in October.

East Kalimantan's Deasy N Sugimar won the women's 100 metres race with a time of 12.68, followed by Melaka's Azmar Azlin Zainal Aznan and Sarawak's Kee with 13.01 and 13.04 respectively..

Brunei's Nuramalina Bakir was within touching distance of a medal after clocking 13.22 and placing fourth in the event.

Both the men's and women's teams finished third in the 4x400 metres relay race.

The men's team of Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Pg Rositi, Khalid Othman, Md Haizul Rani Hj Shariful Bahrin and Md Haziq Harun finished with a time of 3:30.86 behind Sabah (3:24.81) and Sarawak (3:27.92).

In the women's race, Dk Hj Nurul Izzati, Nur Afiqah Maziah, Siti Fatimah and Nuramalina clocked 4:42.64.

Once again, it was a one-two finish for Sabah and Sarawak who finished with times of 4:14.62 and 4:28.45 respectively.

Melaka's Karthik Jayaraman also made an impact on the Games by breaking a 45-year record in the 5,000m race.

He clocked 15:43.58, beating the previous record of 15:49.00 set by Sabah's Dilbagh Singh Kler in 1964.

Courtesy from Brunei Times