Brunei's silat exponent in action
yesterday at the Malaysia Games
in Melaka. Picture: Infofoto

Less than half way into the Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2010 in Melaka and Brunei have nearly tripled their previous medal tally.

Brunei secured two more bronze medals at press time last night when Md Azril Mohd Ali and Nurul Amal Maziah Ibrahim Noor lost their respective semi-final matches in the pencak silat Class A (45-50kg) categories yesterday.

Earlier, the constantly improving national cycling team finished with bronze in the 168.5km team road race and gave Brunei its third bronze medal of the Games.

Karate exponents have once again made their mark by contributing two bronze medals last week - Mohd Nabil Abd Malik making it a trio after finishing on the podium in 2006 and 2008 as well.

Mohd Nabil won Brunei's first medal of the tournament when he was awarded joint bronze with Selangor's Poovanesvaran Kanesan in the men's below 75kg kumite last Saturday.

Ampuan Nur Haziqah Hasyimah Ampuan won karate another bronze medal after finishing third in the women's below 68kg Kumite event on Sunday, finishing joint third with Sabah's Zyen Faiezane Dullie Marie.

Now with five bronze medals, yesterday's haul ensures the Sultanate will return from the 13th edition of the biennial tournament with a much better medal tally than two years ago.

Though the official standings only read three bronze medals to Brunei, the table is expected to be updated after the pencak silat finals today morning. Competing as an invitational team, Brunei cannot displace Perlis in the 15-team table though they have won more bronze medals than the northern state.

Brunei finished on the podium only twice during Sukma 2008 in Terengganu, both bronze medals coming from karate.

But consistently winning medals in regional and international tournaments, the nation's pencak silat athletes made sure the June 10-19 Sukma will be no different when they won bronze as losing semi-finalists.

Md Azril beat Perak's Meor Saiful Azmi Meor Sabri 5-0 in his first match in the round of 16 last Wednesday.

He edged past Penang's Arieffudin Ridzuan 3-2 in the quarter-finals last Friday but was prevented a berth in the championship match when he lost 5-0 to Melaka's Mohd Taufek Abd Razak in the semi-finals yesterday.

Terengganu's Mohd Hafiz Mahari beat Kelatan's Mohamad Ridduan Abdullah to set up a showdown in the final with Mohd Taufek.

Meanwhile in the women's category, Nurul Amal Maziah got her campaign started with a 3-2 win over Selangor's Nor Azimah Mohamad Dalip in the first round (round of 16) last Wednesday.

In the quarter-finals two days later, Nurul disposed of Kedah's Noor Issmiziana Abdullah 5-0 to advance to the semi-finals.

However, she was denied a place in the finals when she lost to Johor's Siti Kamariah Jahri 5-0 yesterday.

In the other semi-finals, Federal Territories ' Nor Hamizah Abu Hassan beat Terengganu's Esa Norazira Mat Yusof.

The final is set for 8:30am today.

Apart from Md Azril Mohd Ali and Nurul Amal Maziah, the rest of the silat team did nothing to impress - with all five of them unable to overcome the first hurdle.

Shahrul Syazwan Hj Bakir lost to Kelantan's Muhammad Hisyam Saari in the first round of their Class D (60kg-65kg) clash last Wednesday.

Competing in Class E (65kg-70kg), Ak Md Khairul Azim Pg Hj Mohamad fell to 2009 Asian Indoor Games gold medalist Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari of Pahang in the first round on the same day.

Md Arrsyad Hassan lost to Melaka's Mohd Azni Salleh in their Class F (70kg-75kg) match last Thursday and in the women's Class B (50kg-55kg) event, Nurul Aimi Amalidya Zanidi lost to Penang's Norsyafiqah Suhaimi on the same day.

Given a bye into the quarter-finals of Class C (55-60kg), Md Zulhafifi Izwan Tamin failed to make it count when he was defeated by Pahang's Muhammad Saiful Syazwan Rahmat last Friday.

In the men's solo event, Muhamad Imanuddin Ahmad placed ninth in a field of 13 while Nurul Aimi finished 11th in a field of 12. Both matches were held last Wednesday.

Brunei are competing in 13 events at the Games - athletics, aquatics, badminton, bowling, cycling, fencing, karate, petanque, sepak takraw, silat, squash, tennis and wushu.

Brunei has sent a contingent of 67 athletes, 16 coaches, five managers, 14 officials and two technical officers led by chef de mission Hj Rosmadee Hj Md Daud.

Federal Territories currently lead the 10-day tournament with 13 gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals.

Selangor are on second with 19 gold, 18 silver and 21 bronze medals while Melaka round off the top three with 16 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals.

Courtesy from Brunei Times