KOTA KINABALU: Sabah added four golds and two silvers to their medal tally at the Selangor 2026 22nd Sukma on Monday.
The shooters led the charge with two golds from the men’s 10m Air Rifle team—comprising Yusezzany Jaidi, Dexter Dean Jonius and Hanson Francis Chong, when they secured victory with 1,824.6 points, while Nur Aina Nataysa Anderson clinched the women’s 10m Individual Air Rifle title with a score of 244.8 points.
An ecstatic team manager, Jeffery Wong admitted he was pleasantly surprised by the squad’s spectacular performance on the opening day of the competition.
“We had hope, but winning gold today exceeded our expectations. This is a historic milestone, marking Sabah’s first gold in over two decades.
“I am completely speechless. I hope this incredible achievement by our shooters paves the way for the growth of shooting sports in Sabah,” he said.
The shooting team had targeted a haul of at least three medals, with their sights set on only one gold before the Games.
Meanwhile, archery won their first gold for the contingent in the women’s compound 50m event from Catherine Looi Mei Qi with 683 points, while the other gold was won by Nur Denisha Shazliatie Abdullah in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase.
She dominated the track by clocking 12:29.30 to secure the top spot ahead of teammate Ledia Engku, who finished at 12:36.98 to claim silver.
The other silver was won by the men’s 4x100m relay team—comprising Muhammad Muzaffar Shah, Mohd Azri Mohammad, Muhammad Nurmansyah and Carlson Camilus.
They clocked 39.88s to finish just behind the Johor quartet, who set a new Games record of 39.46s.
At press time, Sabah’s medal haul stands at 7 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes.
