NILAI – After winning the pencak silat Class B (50-55kg) event at the 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma) today, the country’s young exponent Muhammad Khairi Adib Azhar Abdullah is now targetting gold at the Pencak Silat World Championship in Indonesia next year.
The 20-year-old athlete who won gold at the Sea Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, dreams of winning gold for the country at the world championships after only contributing a silver at the 19th World Pencak Silat Championship in July.
He said the victory today was a big boost for him to win more medals in the future.
“I also dream of getting a hat-trick gold at the Cambodia Sea Games next year,” he said when met by Bernama after the match at the Dewan Tuanku Canselor, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia here today.
The athlete, who idolises his father, said he did not take it lightly after winning at the Sea Games to compete in Sukma.
Commenting on the match, Khairi, who represented the Federal Territories contingent, admitted that today’s match was not easy, but was worth it.
“I struggled to bring down my weight, because I am in the lightweight category, but during training, I did try hard to lose weight.
“I really felt energised going into this match unlike the previous round. I really went all out…I was focused and remembered what the coach had taught,” he said.
Earlier, Khairi showed his superiority in defeating his opponent from Penang, Mohamad Ridzuan Abdullah 49-6 to emerge champion.
The bronze went to Johorean Muhammad Rafi’uddin Razali and Muhammad Afifi Nazri of Terengganu.
Meanwhile, Terengganu dominated the pencak silat event with a collection of 13 medals comprising five gold, four silver and four bronze followed by Kedah (five gold, two silver, four bronze) with the Federal Territories in third position (three gold, four silver, six bronze). – Bernama, September 24, 2022
