Sukma: Pirates Haul In The Gold For Negri

Winning combination: The Negri Sembilan team en route to the gold medal in the team combination event on Thursday. - M. AZHAR ARIF / The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Negri Sembilan stamped their dominance in synchronised swimming after emerging as the team combination champions of the 16th Sukma at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Performing to a mash-up of the Pirates of Caribbean soundtrack, the Negri girls were in sync and executed their moves with minimal mistakes to score 70.40 points.

Federal Territories almost sprang a late surprise as they also delivered a clean performance. They were, however, awarded 70.30 points and had to settle for the silver. Penang took bronze with a 68.60.

It was the Negri team’s third gold with Wong Xin Ying, Tan Jia Jih, Tan Jia Jih, Wong Mei Teng, Ooi Shuang, Chai Jia Yue, Gan Hua Wei, Nur Liyana Nadirah and Nur Faqihah Abdul Halim having earlier won the team technical and team free golds.

The win also meant a great deal to Negri captain Gan Zhen Yu, who was not allowed to compete in the team combination routine because she had already competed in two earlier events – the solo technical and the team technical.

“I am a member of the national team. And having participated in the SEA Games, I can only take part in two events in this Sukma,” explained the 17-year-old Zhen Yu who won three golds at the 2011 SEA Games.

“Thus I had to make a choice and chose to participate in the team technical on Tuesday. But I’m glad our team won the team combination as they had worked very hard,” added Zhen Yu.