BY Fadhil Yunus

Brunei Darussalam welcomed a new star after Farhah Syahirah binti Mohd Shamrin won a silver medal in the women’s individual kata event of the 20th Malaysia Games (SUKMA) at the UiTM Sports Complex on Friday.

The national athlete recorded a total of 24.9400 points as her opponent Pulau Pinang Lim Hui Ling opponent took gold with 25.6800 points.

It has been a good performance by the karate contingent with the Sultanate bagging bronze in the men’s team kata event on Thursday.

The karateka trio of Khairul Syafiq bin Khairul Ariffin, Awangku Ahmad Munib Aiman bin Pengiran Haji Mohd Hasimudin and Awang Muhammad Nazirul bin Haji Johar defeated the Johor team with a score of 24.22 points in the second round.

The Brunei team had earlier accumulated 22.08 points in the preliminary round behind Pahang and Pulau Pinang. Brunei’s sole competitor Md Harith bin Dahlan missed out on winning the bronze medal following a 4-1 defeat in the repechage match to Pulau Pinang’s Sivanesan Geerijaieswaran Pillai in the men’s below 60kg kumite individual event.

He started his campaign with a 5-3 win over Kedah’s Ramesh Pravin before a 2-0 loss to Federal Territory’s Vijaya Kumar Kueggen in the second round placed him in the bronze playoff.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ameerul Kamil bin Abidin reached the second round of the men’s individual kata after posting a score of 21.88 points in the preliminary round.

He did not make the cut in the quarterfinals after finishing fourth with a total of 21.74 points.

Md Adam Nawawie bin Mohd Ishak advanced to the second round in the men’s below 55kg individual kumite event after edging Terengganu’s Yogish Umaganthan 5-4.

However, his quest for a medal came to an end after his second round match ended in a 3-1 defeat to Selangor’s Nagarajan Moganakumar.

There were early eliminations for Farhah Farzana binti Mohd Shamrin in the women’s below 55kg individual kumite event and Amirah Syahidah binti Abdul Rahim in the women’s below 61kg individual kumite event.

In the women’s below 50kg kumite individual event, Dayangku Widad Aiman binti Pengiran Haji Mohammad Hasimudin did not progress to the next round after losing to Kedah’s Poovanesan Kharshanaa 7-0.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin