Young Sharul can replace retired gymnast Jeremiah: national coach

KUALA LUMPUR − Promising young gymnast Muhammad Sharul Aimy Kamarul has the potential to fill the vacancy left by Jeremiah Loo Phay Xing, who retired recently.

National men’s artistic gymnastics coach Ng Shu Liang said although Sharul, 20, has a bright future in the sport, the Terengganu-born lad still needs time to improve himself.

“I can see Sharul as Jeremiah’s replacement. He was very unfortunate before as he was hit by a string of injuries (including his knee).

“But I’m glad he has shown good progress and improvement after he started training under me not too long ago. Now that he has recovered, Sharul needs a bit more time (to achieve success) as I feel that he is still young,” Shu Liang told Bernama when contacted today.

The 38-year-old coach believes that taking part in more competitions would give Sharul an edge, especially after he had bagged a silver medal in the vault event at the Egyptian Pharaohs Cup 2021 last December. 

Shu Liang said he is now helping Sharul and Tan Fu Jie prepare for the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) Apparatus World Cup 2022 in Cairo, Egypt from March 17-22.

The Perak-born coach said Sharul will compete in two events − vault and floor exercise − while Fu Jie will participate in the pommel horse event. 

“Apart from being warm-up events before the SEA Games in Hanoi in May, this Cairo assignment is important for Fu Jie to regain his rhythm and competitive edge because his last outing was in Melbourne back in February 2020,” he said.

Shu Liang also hoped that the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation and the Olympic Council of Malaysia would allow him to take six gymnasts to the upcoming SEA Games.

Asked about 24-year-old Jeremiah’s retirement, he said that while it was a huge loss for the men’s gymnastics camp, he also respected the gymnast’s decision to call it a day due to an injury to his left wrist.

However, he said the men’s gymnastics team needed to move on and believed that the news (of Jeremiah’s retirement) would provide the right tonic for the juniors to step up to the plate.

Last year, Penangite Jeremiah achieved a milestone in his career after becoming the second Malaysian male gymnast to feature in the Olympics − following in the footsteps of Ng Shu Wai, who qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics in Greece.

Jeremiah ended his 2020 Tokyo Olympic campaign in 62nd place out of 66 gymnasts in the men’s individual all-around qualification round with a total of 67.498 points. – Bernama, March 1, 2022