Indonesia-bound national
petanque players (Top) Mazlan
Hj Yahya and (Center) Mohamad
Abdillah Tamin.(Above)Mazlan
Hj Yahya (R)throws the ball
while national petanque coach
Somsak Juychunprasert looks on
at the Petanque Pitch of the
Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports
Complex in Berakas.Pictures:
BT/Yee Chun Leong

The national petanque team will be looking to make a lasting impression when they make their debut at the upcoming 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The Sultanate will be represented by Mazlan Hj Yahya and Mohamad Abdillah Tamin at the Nov 11-22 event.

The duo trains twice a day weekly from 8am-11.30am and 2.30pm-5.30pm, except on Sundays.

On a more important note, they had an overseas training stint in Thailand from Sept 15 to Oct 15 that has helped boost confidence levels.

Mazlan will be taking part in the men's singles event and is looking forward to the challenge.

He has won gold medals in both the 2nd Borneo Inter-Club Petanque Championship and the 1st Borneo Cup Petanque Championship, which was held at the Petanque Pitch of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas in July.

"Training has gone really well despite it being tough and we can see that we are constantly improving. The confidence level is right as well," said Mazlan in an interview with The Brunei Times on Friday.

"I'm looking to provide a good challenge against the big teams (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos). I just have to go out there and do the best that I can," added the 41-year-old.

On the other hand, Mohamad Abdillah Tamin will see action in the shooting event and he too said he is ready for the big stage.

"Preparations have gone really well especially when we got to train with the best (in Thailand). We are feeling confident at the moment," said Mohamad Abdillah.

"I'm just hoping that we can do well eventhough we know that the competitors will be tough," added the 26-year-old.

National petanque coach Somsak Juychunprasert felt that the boulers are all ready for the upcoming Games and believes that they will be able to produce some good results.

"They are ready and have shown a lot of improvement from training. We are aiming to at least finish in the top three in the events," said Somsak.

"My country Thailand will be the toughest test but the players have good confidence now especially getting to train with them while we were there," added the Thai.

Despite sending two athletes to the competition, they will not be competing in the doubles event as each athlete is only allowed to participate in one event.

Courtesy from Brunei Times