DIVING: Nur Dhabitah Celebrates With A Bang

NUR Dhabitah Sabri emerged an unlikely star for the Federal Territories when she surprised her older rivals to win the women's 3m springboard gold and clinch the overall diving title for her team in the Malaysia Games yesterday.

Nur Dhabitah Sabri is congratulated by her parents, Fadzidah Jaafar and Sabri Hashim, yesterday. Pic by Yazit Razali

Nur Dhabitah, who celebrated her 13th birthday yesterday, recorded a 236.25 total score to win the event, edging favourite Jasmine Lai of Perak who scored 234.80. Third was Nur Dhabitah's teammate Loh Zhiayi who totalled 231.65. Nur Dhabitah's gold medal, the only one on offer on the final day of competition at the Wisma Belia Aquatic complex, clinched the overall title for FT with Perak, Penang, Selangor and FT all tied on two gold each going into the last day of the competition.

Dhabitah Makes Her Birthday Extra Special By Grabbing Gold

DIVER Nur Dhabitah Sabri gave herself the perfect birthday present as she completed her Sukma campaign on a high by clinching the women’s 3m springboard individual gold for Federal Territories at Wisma Belia Swimming Pool at Bandar Indera Mahkota.

Jasmine Lai of Perak was considered the favourite as it was her pet event but the pint-sized Dhabitah, who turned 13 yesterday, had other ideas.

Dhabitah, despite still feeling the effects of a back muscle strain, performed consistently to finish the five-dive competition with 236.25 points.

Jasmine started on higher difficulties but poor entries saw her surrendering her lead after the first three dives to eventually take silver with 234.80 points.

Loh Zhiayi could have made it a one-two for FT but stumbled on her third dive to finish with 231.65 for the bronze.

Double happiness: Nur Dhabitah Sabri of Kuala Lumpur celebrates with her gold medal after winning the women’s 3m springboard Thursday.

Vernon Lee Wins His Third Gold With Another Games Record

SARAWAK’S Vernon Lee has come a long way since taking up swimming at the age of seven.

The 16-year-old, who only took to swimming for his own safety, will be going home as the high achiever of the Pahang Suk­ma swimming competition with three gold medals – all in record times.

Vernon brought his campaign to an end by clocking 15:53.67 in the men’s 1,500m freestyle – smashing the previous mark of 15:59.08 set by Kevin Yeap of Perak.

Indonesia SEA Games gold medallist Kevin, who is also his training partner in the national team, was watching from the stands and Vernon paced himself well to clip six seconds off the previous record.

Vernon, thus, has completed a superb double in the long distance, having also erased Kevin’s Sukma record in the 400m freestyle on Wednesday.

Three cheers: Vernon Lee of Sarawak celebrates after winning the 1,500m freestyle at the Indera Mahkota Aquatic Centre in Kuantan Thursday.

DIVING: Tze Liang's Brazilian Mission

PENANG'S Ooi Tze Liang may have swept all before him in this edition of the Malaysia Games but the 18-year-old national diver clearly has bigger goals set in his sights.

Ooi Tze Liang

Penang’s Ooi Tze Liang en route to winning the gold in the 10m platform at the Wisma Belia Aquatic Centre yesterday. Pic by Afif Abd Halim

Tze Liang, who barely missed out on qualifying for the London Olympics, said his goal over the next four years is to ensure that he will be a part of the Malaysian contingent to the 2016 Brazil Olympics for the 10m platform and 3m springboard events.

The Bukit Jalil Sports School student did well to reach the dive-off competition in the World Cup in London last February, the last Olympic qualifying event for the sport, but failed to make the cut at the final hurdle.

SWIMMING: Vernon Leads The Way

RECORD BREAKER: Sets new time in 200m freestyle, anchors Sarawak to relay gold

The Sarawak relay team with their gold medals at the Wisma Belia Aquatic Centre yesterday. Pic by Afif Abd Halim

SARAWAK'S Vernon Lee had a stellar outing at the Malaysia Games swimming competition yesterday when he broke the meet record in the men's 200m freestyle and also anchored his state to the 4x200m freestyle relay gold, also in record breaking time.

Dhabitah Finally Picks Up Her First Sukma Gold

NOT even a back sprain could stop Nur Dha­bitah Sabri from making a big breakthrough in her third Sukma as she partnered Loh Zhiayi to a surprise gold medal in the women’s 3m springboard synchro final at the Wisma Belia Swimming Pool in Bandar Indera Mahkota.

The 13-year-old Dhabitah was grimacing in pain and needed treatment after completing the five-dive routine with Zhiayi but she still managed a big smile as the congratulations poured in.

Dhabitah-Zhiayi showed good consistency to amass 267.48 points to relegate favourites Jasmine Lai Pui Yee-Kam Ling Kar to second place.

Jasmine-Ling Kar, who won the platform synchro on Monday, settled for silver with 265.71 points.

Surprise champs: Loh Zhiayi (left) and Nur Dhabitah Sabri executing their dive in the 3m synchro final yesterday. The duo collected 267.48 points to bag the gold.

Selangor Swimmer Nadia Shares The Limelight With Johor’s Fu Kang

SARAWAK emerged big winners – capturing five out of the eight swimming golds at stake in Sukma – but the day belonged to debutants Nadia Adrianna Redza of Selangor and Johor’s Wong Fu Kang.

Interestingly, both are 13 and excelled in the 200m breaststroke last night.

Nadia, who is coached by former Asian champion Elvin Chia, stole the show by bursting to victory in the women’s 200m breaststroke final.

DIVING: Zhiayi finally gets her overdue glitter

AFTER finishing second in her events on the first and second day of the Malaysia Games diving competition, Federal Territories' Loh Zhiayi made the breakthrough yesterday by taking gold in the women's platform individual event in impressive fashion.

  Zhiayi was head and shoulders above her rivals at the Wisma Belia Aquatic Complex in Kuantan, recording a total score of 277.35 to grab gold from Jasmine Lai of Perak, who managed 229.85. Zhiayi's teammate Nur Dhabitah Sabri finished third on 216.15.

Zhiayi, 15, said she was delighted with the victory, her first Malaysia Games gold medal in what is already her third appearance at the Games.

Zhiayi Denies Pui Yee A Clean Sweep

THE first thing she did after climbing out of the pool was to call her father to convey the good news.

Diver Loh Zhiayi (pic) was bursting with excitement after a surprise win in the women’s platform final at the Sukma diving competition at Wisma Belia Swimming Pool in Bandar Indera Mahkota yesterday.

The 15-year-old, representing Federal Territories, was impressive throughout the five-dive competition to clinch the gold medal with 258.70 points and, in the process, deny Jasmine Lai Pui Yee the chance of a clean sweep of all five gold medals at stake in the Pahang Sukma.

Perak diver Jasmine, who had won the 1m springboard and platform synchro earlier, did not execute the third dive well and settled for silver with 234.30 points.

Thirteen-year-old Nur Dhabitah Sabri took bronze for FT with 202.05 points.

DIVING: Jasmine Eyes A Clean Sweep

PERAK diver Jasmine Lai continued her excellent Malaysia Games form when she won her second gold medal yesterday, this time in the 10m platform synchronised event.

Perak’s Jasmine Lai (right) and Kam Ling Kar in action in the Malaysia Games 10m platform synchronised diving in Kuantan yesterday.

Partnering Kam Ling Kar, the duo scored 276.78 to clinch gold at the Wisma Belia Aquatic complex in Kuantan with Federal Territories' Nur Dhabitah Sabri-Loh Zhiayi taking silver on 243.69.

Third were Selangor's Adeline Chin-Ng Zheng Ni with a total score of 229.79.

The 17-year-old, who won her first ever Games gold medal in the 1m springboard individual on Saturday, said she was delighted with the result but still had unfinished business in Kuantan.

Golden Dive For Rashid And Pardika

ABDUL Rashid and Pardika Indoma were the first divers to step out on the makeshift extension to the diving platform at Wisma Belia Swimming Complex in Bandar Indera Mahkota yesterday – and they promptly bagged the gold medal for Sarawak.

Rashid and Pardika jumped from the 10m height en route to winning the men’s platform synchro event on the second day of aquatic action.

The platform events could only be held after the steel plate extension was added to accommodate the requirements for the diving competitions.

DIVING: Yiwei, Jasmine Steal Show

YEARS of hard work are paying off for Selangor diver Chew Yiwei.

Perak’s Jasmine Lai in action in the 1m springboard yesterday. Pic by Yazit Razali 

The 17-year-old got his first-ever victory in an individual event at the Malaysia Games when he won the men's 3m springboard at the Wisma Belia Aquatic centre in Kuantan yesterday.

The Klang-born Yiwei came up with a total score of 386.40 to take gold while second-placed Ahmad Amsyar Azman of Perlis managed 376.05. Sarawak's Carlysle Chan (323.85) won bronze.

Yiwei said he was delighted to win his second gold medal in his third appearance in the Games.

Jasmine Picks Up Her First Gold Medal

BACK-UP diver Jasmine Lai Pui Yee overcame her disappointment of not seeing action at the Indonesia SEA Games last November by winning the women’s 1m springboard gold for Perak at the Wisma Belia Swimming Complex in Bandar Indera Mahkota yesterday.

Jasmine romped to her first individual success at Sukma after leading from start to finish to garner a total of 228.20 points.

Loh Zhia Yi of the Federal Terri­tories secured the silver in the non-Olympic event with 215.40 points. Selangor’s Adeline Chin took the bronze with a 196.65 total.

Jasmine, 17, was selected for the SEA Games but went to Palembang as a mere spectator.

Golden jump: Jasmine Lai Pui Yee in action in the 1m springboard final yesterday. The Perak diver won the gold.

Pahang Organisers Fail To Get Facilities Right For Platform Divers

DESPITE spending around RM75.3mil to build and upgrade facilities for the 15th Sukma in Pahang all is not well.

A total of RM21mil was spent to upgrade the Wisma Belia Swimming Complex in Bandar Indera Mahkota, but the organisers still cannot get the diving facilities right.

The length of the diving platform on the higher level is supposed to extend out further by one metre in order to allow the divers to execute their routines without risking any serious injuries.

For example, the board for the 10m platform must extend out a metre above the 7m height but this is not the case at the Wisma Belia Swimming Complez..

It was only discovered during an inspection on the eve of the competition. As a result, the organisers were forced to reschedule the diving competition.

Getting it right: Workers, with the help of a crane, making changes to the diving platform at the Wisma Belia Swimming Complex in Bandar Indera Mahkota last night.

Dhabitah Has No Regrets Over Switch From Swimming To Diving

A SIX-year-old girl was brought by her father into a swimming complex in Kuala Lumpur to be trained as a swimmer in 2005.

Unfortunately, the cute girl, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, was told by the coach to forget about swimming because her physical build was not suitable for the sport.

Dhabitah was encouraged to take up diving instead and she has never looked back since.

Nur Dhabitah Sabri

Tze Liang Returns Home To Take Part In Sukma After Olympic Dream Ends

WITH his Olympic dreams in tatters, national diver Ooi Tze Liang has flown back from China to boost Penang’s campaign in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) diving competition, which begins tomorrow.

Tze Liang’s hopes of an Olympic debut ended when all the countries confirmed their quota slots earned for the men’s individual 10m platform.

The Penangite, a double Sukma gold medallist in Malacca two years ago, has been training with the eight divers who have already qualified for the London Olympics in Dali, China, for the past one month.

“It’s confirmed that Bryan Nickson Lomas is the only Malaysian representative for the individual 10m platform at the Olympics,” said Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong.

“Tze Liang can represent Penang at the Sukma but he can only compete in two individual events as he has represented the country at the Guangzhou Asian Games and New Delhi Commonwealth Games.”

A contender: Ooi Tze Liang will boost Penang’s hope of winning gold in diving 

Sarawak Sertai 22 Jenis Sukan

PERSEDIAAN SUKMA: (Dari kanan) Frederick, Lee, Francis dan Muktalib mendengar taklimat daripada wakil persatuan sukan berhubung keperluan dan persiapan atlet masing-masing, semalam.

Skuad Sukma negeri tidak akan hantar atlet untuk perahu layar dan ekuestrian 

KUCHING: Sarawak akan mengambil bahagian dalam 22 daripada 24 jenis sukan yang dipertandingkan pada Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) ke-15 yang akan diadakan di Pahang dari 4 hingga 14 Julai 2012.

Acara tersebut ialah akuatik, angkat berat, badminton, berbasikal, bola sepak, gimnastik, hoki, karate, lawn bowl, memanah, menembak, olahraga, pencak silat, sepak takraw, skuasy, taekwondo, tenpin bowling, wushu, bola tampar, golf, petanque dan tinju.

Dua jenis sukan yang tidak disertai ialah perahu layar dan ekuestrian.

Menteri Muda Sukan, Datuk Lee Kim Shin berkata, bagi persediaan tersebut, Majlis Sukan Negeri Sarawak (MSNS) kini memberikan fokus terhadap pembentukan pasukan dan perkembangan atlet.

Tambah beliau, persatuan-persatuan sukan terlibat juga sedang giat menjalankan pemilihan atlet bagi penubuhan pasukan yang mantap.

“Ada (persatuan) yang sudah mempunyai pasukan bayangan dan ada yang masih berlatih.

“Atlet terbaik akan dipilih berdasarkan pemilihan yang telus,” katanya pada sidang media di sini, semalam.

Terdahulu, beliau mempengerusikan Sesi Dialog MSNS bersama Persatuan-persatuan Sukan bagi menghadapi Sukma 2012.

Hadir sama ialah Pengarah MSNS Francis Nyurang Ding, Timbalan Pengarah MSNS Frederick Tan dan Penolong Pengarah MSNS Abdul Muktalib Mohd.

Selain itu, Lee berkata, perkembangan atlet juga akan dipantau dari semasa ke semasa untuk peningkatan pencapaian secara konsisten.

“Sukma kali ini dijangkakan mencabar.

“Banyak negeri sudah meningkat terutamanya Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan termasuk Pahang.

“Maka itu, kita perlu bekerja keras dalam mempersiapkan atlet,” katanya.

Sehubungan itu, Lee berkata, bajet tambahan akan disalurkan kepada persatuan-persatuan yang memerlukan agar dapat mempersiapkan atlet dengan baik.

Dalam pada itu, MSNS akan mengadakan program motivasi latihan untuk jurulatih di Miri dari 10 hingga 13 Februari ini.

Sukma 2012 Pahang menyenaraikan sebanyak 382 acara menerusi 24 jenis sukan dengan tawaran pingat emas dan perak masing-masing sebanyak 382 pingat, manakala gangsa 455 pingat.

Sementara itu, Lee berkata, tiga jaguh sukan akuatik Sarawak tidak dapat menyertai skuad negeri ke Sukma di Pahang kerana perlu menjalani latihan bersama skuad olimpik negara.

Beliau menjelaskan, Pandelela Rinong, Bryan Nickson Lomas dan Traisy Vivien Tuked telah dipilih mewakili negara ke Sukan Olimpik 2012 London yang dijadualkan berlangsung pada Ogos.

“Ini bermakna, kita kehilangan atlet akuatik yang berpotensi menyumbang pingat emas,” katanya.

Bagaimanapun, Lee berkata meskipun tanpa Pandelela, Bryan dan Traisy, skuad akuatik Sarawak masih mempunyai peluang cerah untuk meraih pingat emas.

“Peluang masih cerah kerana skuad akuatik kita mempunyai potensi untuk meraih emas,” kata Lee.

Akuatik menawarkan pingat emas terbanyak pada temasya Sukma 2012, Pahang iaitu sebanyak 48 pingat.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/02/09/sarawak-sertai-22-jenis-sukan/#ixzz1lrUYWgYI