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NEWS & EVENTS
Junior athletes shine at Commonwealth Youth Games
Tuesday, September 8, 2015

TWO young national athletes broke national age group records at the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Samoa yesterday.

Long jumper Muhammad Wafiq Kifli set a new national record for the youth category (Under-18) after he jumped a distance of 5.65m in his third attempt at the Apia Park Sports Complex. His previous best was 5.46m which he set at the final long jump trials for the CYG on Aug 30 at the Balapan Track and Field, Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas.

That result placed the 16-year-old ninth in the 10-athlete field and 2.02m behind the best athlete, Richard Seklorwu from Ghana. Swimmer Ashley Chai, 13, broke her age group record in the 100m backstroke after finished 1:13.89 in yesterday's second heat.

The result eclipsed the time of 1:14:37 set by Maria Koh in 2007 and placed her 20th in the 21- swimmer list at the Tuana'imato Sports Facility. Another Bruneian athlete in action yesterday was Muhd Ammar Safwan Hj Zaidin, who reached the finishing line in 52.13s in heat two of the 400m event.

His personal best remains the 51.54s which he set three weeks ago at the Thailand Sports School Games. Yesterday's time placed him sixth out of eight runners, with the fastest qualifier Karabo Sibanda from Botswana who ran 48.95s.

The competition will continue today for Brunei with Chai scheduled to compete in the backstroke 50m at the Apia Park Sports Complex. Meanwhile, Ernie Sahrina Abdul Fattah - the country's other athlete at the Games - will contest the shot put event tomorrow.

Her personal best is the 7.41m she threw in May. A total of nine sports are being contested at the CYG - aquatics, archery, athletics, boxing, lawn bowls, rugby sevens, squash, tennis and weightlifting.

The event has attracted up to 1,000 young Commonwealth athletes aged 14-18 to represent their country in the competition. This is the third outing for the nation at the CYG, with the first in Pune, India in 2008.

Their most recent participation was in 2011 which took place at the Isle of Man, United Kingdom.

Courtesy from Brunei Times