Malaysia's Olympic Campaign Heats Up Again

From Vikneswaran Raman

PARIS, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian contingent's challenge at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games heated up again on day 12, with the country’s athletes competing in four different sports.

First, weightlifter Mohamad Aniq Kasdan came close to making history by delivering Malaysia's first medal in weightlifting, but fell short of the podium by just one kilogramme (kg).

Mohamad Aniq set a new national record with a total lift of 297kg, which is 1kg more than his previous national record, but finished behind bronze medalist Hampton Morris from the United States, who achieved a total lift of 298kg (126kg, 172kg) at South Paris Arena 6.

In the snatch event, Mohamad Aniq managed to break the national record of 129kg previously held by Muhamad Aznil Bidin, lifting 130kg. However, he was only successful in lifting 167kg in the clean & jerk.

Mohamad Aniq holds the national record for clean & jerk at 170kg.

Meanwhile, 2017 keirin world champion Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom concluded their sprint cycling events in the 1/8 and 1/32 rounds respectively at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome.

Earlier, Mohd Azizulhasni began his Paris 2024 campaign by setting a new national record with a time of 9.402 seconds to finish 10th in the qualifying round, surpassing his previous record of 9.523 seconds set at the Asian Track Cycling Championships (ACC) in Nilai last year.

Debutant Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri also missed the quarter-finals of the women's keirin event, as her challenge ended in the first round.

Mohd Azizulhasni, known as the ‘Pocket Rocketman’, and Muhammad Shah Firdaus will next compete in their main event, the keirin, starting this Saturday, while Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri will compete in the women's sprint event starting Friday.

At the Aquatic Centre, experienced diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri secured a spot in the semi-finals of the women's 3-metre springboard event, which will take place tomorrow (Aug 8).

The 25-year-old diver performed excellently in her first two dives to finish the preliminary round in 12th place with a total score of 283.65 points, with only the top 18 advancing.

Meanwhile, golfer Ashley Lau also did well in the first round of the women’s competition, scoring a par 72 to tie for 13th place with 13 other players.

Malaysia's challenge on Thursday (Aug 8) will continue with Nur Dhabitah and Ashley Lau in their respective events.

-- BERNAMA