Training Twice A Week, Youngest Terengganu e-Sports Athlete Eyes Medal

KUALA TERENGGANU, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- The second-ranked e-Sports player for the e-Football event in Malaysia, Muhammad Hazimi Mohd Iskandar only trains two days a week in preparation for the 21st Malaysia Games (SUKMA) due to his tight schedule as a student.

Muhammad Hazimi who is one of the two players for the event out of a total of 15 Terengganu e-Sports athletes flying to Sarawak for Malaysia's biggest tournament, admitted that his training duration was insufficient.

However, the 16-year-old who is youngest of five siblings agreed even though he realized the need to pursuit his interest in the sport, his responsibilities as a student at Sekolah Berasrama Penuh Integrasi Batu Rakit, Kuala NerusBatu Rakit Integration Boarding School, Kuala Nerus remained a priority.

"For my preparation in this SUKMA, of course I have to divide my time between training and studying... so far my training schedule is only two days a week. To be honest it is not enough, however, because I have started playing this e-Football since the beginning of the year this, God willing, is sufficient.

"In terms of pressure, I have played FIFA before and have participated in several tournaments. There I have met many powerful players, so God willing, I am used to it," he told reporters after attending a dinner with other e-Sports athletes hosted by the state father of the sport, Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim, here last night.

Hailing from Kampung Merbau Patah, here, Muhammad Hazimi who is also the youngest athlete for the Terengganu e-Sports contingent aspires to represent Malaysia in the e-Football event at a bigger tournament when he finishes school.

Meanwhile, contingent manager Syed Afif Hakimi Tengku Abdullah said Terengganu will only compete in four events out of the seven contested due to the absence of players for e-Racing which has three events in it.

"However, we are positive to achieve the target of one gold medal for the Playerunknown's Battleground Mobile (PUBG Mobile) event and three more medal targets which we call 'bonus', which are expected to win gold or silver for Mobile Legends Bang Bang, e-Football and Tekken 8 .

"Even for e-Racing, I understand that there are only six or seven states that enter and this event Sarawak is really pro. So, with the advantage of being the host, Sarawak chose to enter the event," he said and outlined the state's contingent comprised the strongest players in Terengganu.

However, armed with the final preparations, he is confident that Terengganu will be able to achieve the medal target even though it may be difficult to retain the overall champion of the sport achieved at the 20th SUKMA, two years ago.

In the series that took place in Kuala Lumpur, the Terengganu contingent lived up to the expectations when they dominated the e-Sports competition by winning two gold medals out of the five events contested through the doubles and team events of the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) video game.

-- BERNAMA