Kota Kinabalu: Sabah were crowned overall champions for the first time in the National Deaf Athletics Championship held at the National Sports Council Mini Stadium over the weekend.
They topped the medal table with eight golds, seven silvers and five bronzes followed by Kuala Lumpur with eight golds, three silvers and two bronzes while in third place were Penang with four golds, five silvers and four bronzes.
The gold medallists are Ali Uwaits Redzuan (men’s open 100m), Daniel Allex Bobax Alex (men’s youth long jump), HazizAbdullah (men’s 400m), Pyster Yvone Rony (women’s 1500m), men’s 4x100m, women’s 4x100m, men’s 4x400m and women’s 4x400m.
The silver medals were delivered by Pyster (women’s 800m), Steffy Stacy Lakim (women’s 400m), Daniel (men’s 100m), Nicolyeanna Peter (women’s open javelin), Aidil A.Afifat Juakim (men’s 200m), Atasya Faqeha Juakim (women’s 200m), Daniel (men’s 200m) while the bronze medals came from Aidil A.Afifat (men’s open 100m),
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A total of 111 athletes from across the country took part in the two-day competition.
Sabah were represented by 12 athletes led by coach Mario Ocado Pajarillo and Juiren Elip as official.
Sabah Deaf Sports Association president Spencer Soo Kok Heng was delighted with the achievement and expressed his gratitude to the Youth and Sports Ministry and Sabah Sports Council for their support.
“We are very proud of the athletes for winning the overall title for the first time. It was our best performance having only finished second overall back in 2017.
“Our next target is to have at least 25 athletes to represent Malaysia in the Asean Games, Asian 2024 and Deaflympic 2025,” he said.
He also called on more sponsors from the public or private sectors to come forward to support their programme.
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