President of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council HRH Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports YB Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Hj Awg Halbi Hj Mohd Yusof (L) during the post-mortem meeting for the 31st Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, held at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Berakas, yesterday. Picture: BT/Yusri Adanan
National athletes Md Fakhri Ismail (R), Maizurah Abdul Rahim (C) and national athletics coach Fidel Gallenero attend the post-mortem meeting at the Conference Room of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas yesterday. Picture: BT/Yusri Adanan
National shuttler Jaspar Yu Woon Chai (L) and his coach to the Rio Olympics Mohammad Zuno Kartono Ali during the post-mortem meeting at the Conference Room of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas yesterday. Picture: BT/Yusri Adanan
HIS Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah, President of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BDNOC), wants Brunei’s trio to the Rio Olympics to stay committed and continue to work hard to improve themselves further.
The sultanate was represented by sprinters Md Fakhri Ismail and Maizurah Abdul Rahim and shuttler Jaspar Yu Woon Chai at the biggest sporting stage in the world in Rio de Janeiro. The post-mortem meeting for the Aug 5-21 competition was conducted by the Department of Youth and Sports (JBS) yesterday.
“I want all of you to improve so that you can show to other countries that Brunei has got athletes who have high potential,” said HRH in a sabda at the Conference Room of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.
“Don’t be discouraged easily and keep on training. Another important thing is to stay disciplined. You will have to strengthen your fitness and fix your weaknesses and mistakes,” added HRH.
HRH also highlighted the importance of the coach and stated that communication is a key factor for them to improve.
“Discuss with your coach on what is better to improve your skills. If you keep quiet then the coach won’t know,” said HRH.
“You must talk to your coach to discuss things… then he will be able to tell you what to do on how to improve,” added HRH.
The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Hj Awang Halbi Hj Mohd Yusof was also present at the meeting and he stated that the ministry will continue to work together with the BDNOC and take the necessary steps to improve the country’s sports in both the regional and international level.
Yu, who became the first Bruneian to compete in badminton in the Olympics, was assigned one of the three Tripartite Commission Invitation places by the International Olympic Council (IOC) in May and entered the Rio Olympics as the lowest ranked competitor at 407.
He went down 21-16, 21-15 to World No 12 Hu Yun of Hong Kong in his Group D men’s singles event before losing 21-12, 21-10 to World No 34 Pablo Abian of Spain in his second match.
On the other hand, Fakhri and Maizurah participated under the universality places quota which the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) opened to countries with no qualified athletes. Fakhri progressed to the first round of the men’s 100-metre event after crossing the line with at time of 10.92s in the preliminaries.
He then clocked a time of 10.95s in Heat 1. His national record remains at 10.59s which he set at the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore in June last year.
Maizurah contested in the women’s 200m where she clocked a time of 28.02s in Heat 8 to finish at the end of the 72-competitor field – just short of her personal best of 27.85s she produced at the Philippines Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) Philippine Open in April.
