The national Under-23 football
team won gold in the Borneo
Games football competition
yesterday after beating East
Kalimantan. Picture: Courtesy
of the Department of Youth
and Sports
Brunei finished their campaign at the 5th Borneo Games on a high note after the football team won gold yesterday to help the country improve on their medal tally from the last edition in 2011.
The national Under-23 football team delivered the country its eighth gold medal after defeating East Kalimantan 10-9 on penalties at the Labuan Sports Complex, with the country also winning a silver in the tug-of-war event.
The final finished 1-1 at the end of regulation.
The Sultanate raked in eight gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze to total up the tally to 35 medals in the tournament where they finished fifth in the seven-team table.
Brunei finished fourth at the 2011 Games after winning eight gold, six silver and five bronze medals.
Brunei's best finish came when they hosted the third edition of the meet in 2009 and won 13 gold, 15 silver and 18 bronze medals.
Sabah beat Sarawak for the title of overall champions after winning 36 gold, 45 silver and 35 bronze medals while Sarawk won 36 gold, 37 silver and 30 bronze medals.
Hosts Labuan were third on 19 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals.
The Sultanate kicked-off its football campaign with a 1-0 win over Sabah at the Stadium Labuan on Tuesday.
The football team picked up their second straight win after beating East Kalimantan 2-1 at Matrikulasi Stadium the next day.
The national team were held 1-1 by hosts Labuan at the Dataran Labuan field on Thursday before a 0-0 draw with Sarawak at the same venue the next day.
This year's edition of the tournament saw athletes from karate, gasing, silat, sepak takraw, athletics, and football successfully delivered gold medals for the country in their respective events.
Mohammad Hamizan Sanif delivered the Sultanate's first gold on Saturday after defeating Mohd Zairam Zainal from Sabah in the 75kg and below kumite event, while the other gold came from Mohammad Mairul as he defeated Vinnidick Wilson Charlie from Sarawak in men's 67kg and below kumite final on Sunday.
The gasing team won two gold medals after their men's doubles team defeated Labuan 4-1 in the final on Thursday, while the other gold cane from the youth doubles after beating Sabah 8-5.
The sepak takraw contributed one gold after beating Sabah 3-0 (15-6, 15-7, 15-7) in the final of the Regu event, while, Md Fakhri Ismail won it for the country in the men's 200m event with a time of 22.23s.
National pencak silat athlete Zanorarif Zaini also provided one gold for Brunei after defeating Labuan's Mohd Hafiz Sabry 5-0 in the men's Category 65-70kg on Friday.
The country sent a 138-strong contingent including technical officers, coaches and 114 athletes to compete in 11 sports in this year's edition in Labuan.
