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KUALA LUMPUR – National petanque athlete Sharifah Afiqah Farzana Syed Ali won’t have her brother, Syed Afiq Fakhri, for company at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, but that won’t stop her from hunting down her first gold medal there.
Her hopes of fighting for a gold medal with her brother in Cambodia were dashed when Syed Afiq failed to get past the stringent selection process carried out by the Malaysian Boules Sports Federation.
The 19-year-old Sharifah Afiqah, who will carry the country’s challenge in the mixed triples event, admitted to having mixed feelings without him by her side, but she was also quick to acknowledge that she won’t let that affect her performance and will instead use her older brother’s absence as a motivation to achieve success.
“Of course, there is (a difference) because if he is here, there is compatibility. With my new teammates, we are just trying to forge an understanding, so it feels different. But I am ready to roll.
“My brother told me that although he is not in the team, he will always pray for our success as we go for gold. He asked me to fight for the country, our family and myself so that I can make our family and Malaysia proud,” she said recently.
The understanding between siblings Sharifah Afiqah and Syed Afiq was clearly evident when they snagged the bronze medal in the mixed doubles event on their SEA Games debut in Hanoi, Vietnam last year, and pulled off a couple of surprise wins over the pairs from Vietnam and Thailand in the early rounds.
The love they shared also shone brightly when the brother and sister were locked in a warm embrace while shedding tears of sadness after losing in the semi-finals and settling for the bronze medal.
Sharifah Afiqah said that the incident is still fresh in her memory.
The teenager, who is pursuing a diploma in sports science and recreation studies from Universiti Teknologi Mara Shah Alam, said that experience had taught her to be a more confident and mature athlete capable of facing any challenges along the way.
“This will be my second SEA Games outing, so I will take what happened before this as a lesson. I am now able to compose myself whenever I am nervous or anxious… I am more focused. My target is to improve on the bronze medal achievement and go for gold,” said the teenager who hails from Dungun, Terengganu.
She expects Cambodia to be Malaysia’s main challengers in their mission to hunt down the gold medal at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh from May 5-17. – Bernama, April 19, 2023
