The Sultanate's first attempt at a medal fell through when Faustina Woo Wai Sii failed to impress the judges in the wushu event of the 16th Asian Games held at Field A of the Nansha Gymnasium in Guangzhou yesterday.

Woo scored a total of 15.9 points to place ninth of 10 competitors in the combined Southern Fist (Nanquan) and Southern Broad Sword (Nandao All-Round) event yesterday.

The 18-year-old wushu exponent kicked off Brunei's Asian Games campaign in the Nandao event, in which she scored a total of 7.6 points.

The judges gave Woo 4.8 of a possible five points for "A: quality of movement" in the event which had landed her gold at last month's 4th World Traditional Wushu Championship.

However her marks for "B: overall performance" and "C: degree of difficulty" were below average compared to the other competitors, 2.3 and 0.5 from a possible three and two points respectively.

Later in the day Woo continued her fight in Nanquan, in which she scored 8.3 points (A: 4.8, B: 2.4, C: 1.1) for a combined total of 15.9 points.

Despite her underwhelming results, national wushu coach Li Hui was satisfied with his disciple's performance.

"It was okay since this was her first time at such a big tournament like the Asian Games," said Li when contacted by The Brunei Times yesterday.

"She wasn't nervous, it was just because she did not have enough time to train. All the other countries were represented by athletes with at least 10 years of experience, while Woo is still new in the sport," added the national wushu coach.

Hosts China lifted gold in the event when the judges awarded Lin Fan 9.9 points in both Nanquan and Nandao for an almost perfect tally of 19.8 points.

Ivana Ardelia Irmanto claimed silver for Indonesia with 18.92 points, followed by bronze-medallist Malaysia's Tai Cheau Xuen with 18.86 points.

Though Woo had reached the end of her Asian Games journey, compatriot Lee Ying Shi will continue the wushu fight on Tuesday.

The national flag-bearer during the Games' opening ceremony on Friday will put her skills to the test in the one-day Long Fist (Changquan) event.

Fencing's Mohammad Yunos Hj Hamid takes centre stage on Friday while Pg Mohd Nasir Pg Anak Jaafar is set to compete in the equestrian show jumping discipline on Nov 24.

Karate-do's Muhammad Fida'iy Hj Sanif (men's kumite -60kg) and his older brother Mohammad Fadillah (men's kumite -67kg) will do battle on Nov 25, with Mainudin Hj Mohamad (men's kumite -75kg) and Mohammad Jamil Hj Abd Hamid (men's kumite -84kg) closing out the country's participation on Nov 26.

Courtesy from Brunei Times