1Silat - Unity in Diversity

Friday 18 December 2009

Fauzi lands surprise gold in silat - and Malaysia’s 30th


POLICEMAN Mohd Fauzi Khalid rose to the occasion to win a surprise gold medal in silat and it fittingly turned out to be the 30th one for Malaysia in the 25th SEA Games.

His performance sparked a four-gold sweep by Malaysia as Faizal Abdullah, Mohd Hafiz Mahari and Emy Latip all won their final bouts.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, National Sports Council director general Datuk Zolkples Embong and chef-de-mission Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz were present to witness the competition, eagerly anticipating the minimum 30-gold target to be achieved in the morning.

But the bet was not on Fauzi but Faizal, who also fought in the morning’s final bouts.

Fauzi, however, stole the show by stopping the hot streak of the Vietnam team with a 5-0 win over Truong Van Mao in the men’s below 75kg silat seni final.


Super cop: Malaysia’s Mohd Fauzi Khalid celebrating after winning the gold in the men’s below 75kg silat seni yesterday.
Fauzi lost to the same fighter in the semi-finals at the Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok in July and his win silenced the Vietnamese supporters, who had been noisily celebrating their exponents’ victories in the first three finals.

“I saw all the top officials here but I did not know that I secured the 30th gold to help the contingent meet the target,” said the 22-year-old Fauzi.

“My total concentration was on getting the better of the Vietnamese as I lost to him in Bangkok.

”I managed to land a kick to score points in the first round and I was confident that I would get the gold.

“I did not get a medal in my first SEA Games in Korat (2007) and getting a gold here feels so good.”

Faizal did not disappoint in the men’s below 85kg final, beating Thailand’s Chanon Untakool 5-0.

Malaysia only managed to win one silver and six bronze medals in Korat.

“The current team are more focused and we were better prepared this time,” said the Faizal, a father of two, who took bronze at the previous Games.

The third gold and the 35th for the country came from Hafiz, who overcame Laotian Okhe Botsavang in the men’s below 50kg final.

Emy bagged the final gold of the day in the women’s below 60kg competition, beating Thailand’s Jutarat Noytapa.

Thursday 17 December 2009

Pencak Silat Produces Four Golds

VIENTIATE, Dec 17 (Bernama) -- Pencak Silat gave Malaysia four gold medals at the 25th SEA Games in Laos on Thursday.

National pencak silat exponent Mohd Fauzi Khalib also turned into instant hero by clinching Malaysia's 30th gold medal.

The Penang lad outdone his rival from Vietnam, Truong Van Mao in the Class F men's below-75kg category final held at the Laos International Exhibition and Convention Centre, here.

In the highly anticipated final, the 22-year-old Fauzi earned the first point after he unleashed a powerful kick that forced the Vietnamese to tumble to the ground, which Fauzi said had boosted his confidence in the competition.

Speaking to Malaysian reporters after the match, Mohd Fauzi said: "I'm very proud as I've produced the badly needed gold medal for the Malaysian contingent."

Bronze was won by Marniel Dimla of the Philippines and Singaporean Elyasak Said.

Yesterday, with two days remaining before the closing ceremony of the biennial Games, the Malaysian contingent was in sixth position in the 11-country medal tally with only 29 golds, less one gold from the initial target of 30.

Faizal Abdullah produced the second gold after beating Thailand's Chanon Untakool 5-0 in the final of the men's Class H below-85kg category.

Faizal, 29, a military police personnel attached to the Jalan Genting-Klang's military camp, said this was his best achievement so far after a bronze medal at the 2007 Korat SEA Games.

"This time around, the pencak silat squad are well prepared with much tougher training before the Games," he said.

Nguyen Thanh Quyen of Vietnam and Shafiq Saiful of Singapore got the bronze.

The third gold came from Mohd Hafiz Mahari, 22, in the men's Class A below- 50kg after defeating host country opponent Okhe Botsavang in the final. The bronze went to Niphon Jantaro of Thailand and Amirul Ahat of Brunei Darussalam.

Meanwhile, Emy Latip gave the fourth gold in the women's Class C below-60kg after edging out Thailand's Jutarat Noytapa in the final. Anissa Pangestina of Indonesia and Saiedah Said of Singapore took the bronze.

After the completion of pencak silat today, Vietnam emerged champion after clinching six gold medals, four silver and a bronze, while Malaysia was in second place with four gold and six bronze medals, and Thailand in third (2-4-4).

Sourced from http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newssport.php?id=463101

Thursday 3 December 2009

Sukan Borneo: Brunei overall silat champions

THE Brunei Darussalam pencak silat contenders failed to collect any gold medals on the final day of the 3rd Borneo Games at the Youth Centre in the capital yesterday but were declared the overall champions after bagging a total of three gold and three silver medals.

Instead of winning gold, the Brunei’s silat athletes however, won all the silver medals in the three events contested – ‘Regu Lelaki’, ‘Ganda Wanita’ and ‘Tunggal Lelaki’.

“I am very disappointed with the results but with the fighting spirit shown by our athletes I can see they are really up to the tempo to win in their respective events. But luck was not on our side today,” said Hj Abdul Razak bin Hj Md Dali, the manager of the pencak silat team yesterday.

The manager said they only started training in August. Hj Abdul Razak was also disappointed with the Tunggal Lelaki’ event result in which he expected Eddy Ratno bin Hj Abu Bakar to win the gold medal.

“We lost by three points against East Kalimantan’s Dwi Chandra Wijaya who grabbed the gold medal. As I said earlier, luck was just not on our side,” he added.

East Kalimantan’s Dwi Chandra Wijaya won the gold medal in the Tunggal Lelaki’ event after collecting 466 points clocking the official time of 3 minutes. Brunei’s Eddy Ratno bagged the silver medal with 463 points (2 minutes and 59 seconds) followed by Fikri bin Yakup from Sarawak 451 points (3 minutes) for bronze.

Sarawak’s Nurbayani bte Fadzil and Heidy Diana Suip (525 points) outclassed Brunei’s Norleyharyanti bte Hj Raya and Nurul Aimi Amalina (509 points) in the ‘Ganda Wanita’ event to win the gold medal.

Meanwhile, East Kalimantan grabbed another gold medal in the ‘Regu Lelaki’.

The trio from East Kalimantan — Heri Usianto, Abdul Mukid and Zakki Imadudin — were awarded the gold medal after scoring 470 points followed by Mohd Amin bin Ali, Abd Malik bin Hj Ladi and Md Jufri bin Hj Junaidi from Brunei to win silver (466 points) and Sarawak’s Ahmad Nazri bin Abu Bakar, Mohd Faiz Farhat bin Abas and Mohd Zainul bin Wahab (463 points) won the bronze medal.

The guest-of-honour, Awang Sa Bali bin Abas, the Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office presented the medals to the winners.

Written by SAHROL DAUD
Sourced from
http://news.brunei.fm/2009/12/03/brunei-overall-silat-champions/

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Brunei win three golds in pencak silat

Bruneian tandem Mohd Fadzil Afifi and Mohd Nur Fadzillah clinched for the
Sultanate its second gold medal at the 3rd Borneo Games. They scored 538 to
dominate theboys’ doubles competition in pencak silat. First to win gold for Brunei was
Siti Noradiyatul Amal Roslan. Brunei’s pencak silat team swept all their events yesterday.
Picture: BT/Rudolf Portillo

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - BRUNEI showed their mastery in pencak silat by sweeping all their events yesterday at the 3rd Borneo Games at the Youth Centre in the capital.

The hosts got their first gold medal through Siti Noradiyatul Amal Roslan, who topped the girls’ singles event with a score of 457. With only three participants for the event, Yunita Rahel of East Kalimantan finished second after scoring 451 while Sarawak’s Kamsiah Hanapi settled for the bronze medal after posting 444.

The Sultanate’s second gold came from the tandem of Mohd Fadzil Afifi and Mohd Nur Fadzillah, who scored 538 to dominate the boys’ doubles competition.

East Kalimantan’s Ade Ismail Ramadan and Rian Angga registered 530 points to grab the silver medal while Samsul Salleh and Gadaffi Bahri Hamdan of Sarawak claimed the bronze after tallying a score of 508.

With only two teams in the girls’ triples event, the trio of sisters Norleydiana and Norleyharyanti Hj Raya together with Aimi Amalina Zainidi, bagged the gold medal with a score of 468. East Kalimantan’s trio of Ika Susanti, Heni Rusnawati and Susi Hayati came in second with a score of 464.

Prior to the games, Hj Abd Razak Hj Md Dali, the manager of the national pencak silat team, had told The Brunei Times that he expects the hosts to dominate in the sport which is held for the first time in the Games.

“The performance was good today (Tuesday) as the athletes made little mistakes. All the daily training that was done from the morning till night has paid off,” said Hj Abd Razak.

“I’m very satisfied with the results and we will stay back to train and hopefully perform to our best for tomorrow (Wednesday),” added Hj Abd Razak.

Meanwhile, the silat head coach, Pg Hj Md Shahepul Radin Pg Hj Tejudin, was equally impressed with the performance of his athletes especially that they have trained hard even during the fasting month prior to the Games.

“We were aiming for three gold medals and we were able to achieve it.

Brunei's Siti Noradiyatul Amal Roslan displays her winning form in the girls' singles of the pencak silat competition yesterday at the Youth Centre
Picture: BT/Rudolf Portillo

“I’m very satisfied with the performance of my athletes and I am proud of them. Hopefully we can manage to win more medals tomorrow (Wednesday),” said Pg Hj Shahepul Radin.

When asked on what he expects from today’s competition, Pg Hj Shahepul Radin replied: “Definitely we are hoping to gain more medals because from today’s (Tuesday) success. We are hoping to keep the team motivated to achieve more. But I know that East Kalimantan will be tough competitors as well so we have to perform better in order to win.”

The competition continues today with Eddy Ratno Hj Abu Bakar competing in the boys’ singles event.

Norleyharyanti and Nurul Aimi Amalina, on the other hand, will be teaming up in the girls’ doubles competition.

The team of Abd Malik Hj Ladi, Md Amin Ali and Md Jufri Junaidi will participate in the boys’ triples event.

The first event is slated to commence at 2.30pm with the prize giving ceremony to be held right after the events.

Written by YEE CHUN LEONG

Silat exponents hope to bag two gold medals

GEORGE TOWN: The Malaysian silat squad will be banking on their experienced hands to exorcise the ghost of the 2007 Korat SEA Games.

Then, the national squad produced their worst ever performance in the history of the SEA Games. They returned from Korat with a meagre 0-1-5 haul. It was the first time Malaysia failed to win a silat gold medal in the biennial Games.


Best bet: Suzy Mohd Sulaiman will be Malaysia's sole female exponent in the Laos Games.
The Malaysian National Silat Federation (Pesaka) are hoping for a more fruitful outing in Vientiane next week.

Although Malaysia will compete in a maximum 12 events allowed for each country, Pesaka have set a modest two-gold target.

They believe that one of the medals will come from silat seni (non-combat) tunggal putri (women’s singles) exponent Suzy Mohd Sulaiman.

The 28-year-old from Pahang, who is a former world champion, will be the country’s sole female silat seni exponent in Laos.

“We will rely on both silat seni and silat olahraga to deliver the golds,” said team manager Osman Nok.

“Since we are only competing in two silat seni events in Vientiane, Suzy is our best bet for success. After enduring a disappointing outing in Korat, she has vowed to go all out to make amends in Laos.”

Besides Suzy, the other Malay sian representatives in silat seni is the Mohd Hafiz Arif-Muhamad Helmi Aziz pair for ganda putra (men’s doubles).

Malaysia will also compete in 10 of the 15 silat olahraga (combat) categories in Laos.

The gold medal contenders are expected to be seasoned hands Faizal Abdullah, Shuhairi Chin, Malini Mohamad and Emy Latip.

In order to get away from the pressure and other distractions, the silat squad spent a month training at Fraser Hill before breaking camp for Hari Raya Haji last week.

“After the disappointing results at the last Games, a two-gold target sounds reasonable for the Laos challenge. We learned a bitter lesson in Korat and will not repeat the mistake of setting sky-high expectations,” said Osman.

“Training in the tranquil setting of Fraser Hill allowed the athletes and coaches to fully focus on the tasks. The weather on the hill is also similar to the chilly conditions expected in Vientiane.”

The games organisers’ decision to limit each country to a maximum of 12 events could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Malaysia.

“All the 15 exponents who were initially in the Games training squad were forced to fight for their places when the new ruling was announced,” said Osman.

“It was tough to pick the five to be dropped. Those who survived are the cream of the crop and will be serious medal contenders in Laos.”

In Korat, the Malaysian officials pointed the finger at biased judging for their poor results.

But Osman believes the controversy has been put to bed and will not recur in Vientiane.

“Malaysia were among those who fought to rectify the shortcomings in the judging system. Steps have been taken by the silat affiliates in the region to prevent a repeat of the problems faced in Korat,” he said.

“I believe we don’t have to worry too much as the judging at the recent Asean Indoor Games in Vietnam was satisfactory and fair to all participating countries.”

Malaysia’s traditional rivals Vietnam and Indonesia are once again expected to start as favourites in the competitions offering a total of 19 gold medals.

Written by LOGANATH VELLOO
Sourced from http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2009/12/2/sports/5215856&sec=sports