SEREMBAN, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Twins Mirza Nazran Muhammad Sam and Mirza Nazhan Muhammad Sam are confident of springing some surprises to bring home a medal from the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) 2024 in Sarawak this month.
The Negeri Sembilan pair is unseeded in men’s doubles but is determined to put up a strong display at the biennial games.
"We are excited about representing the state in SUKMA. My older brother and I started playing badminton at the age of 11 and our ambition is to be national players,” Mirza Nazhan told Bernama.
The 20-year-old twins know they will have to play against national players and want to take it match by match to avoid putting themselves under unnecessary pressure.
They train under former national doubles player Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, with daily sessions starting at 6.30 am.
Mirza Nazhan said as twins they enjoy advantages like having a better understanding of each other on court.
“The coach frequently reminds us to control our emotions. It’s normal for siblings to have misunderstandings but we do not bring our problems onto the court. We want to win at every stage of the competition,” he added.
Among the competitions they participated in are Air Asia National Championship 2020, Junior International Challenge Under-19 in 2022 and Negeri Sembilan Closed Championship last year.
The Negeri Sembilan squad have seven national backup players, namely Ung Yi Xing, Heng Zi Hin, Ayu Fu Sheng, Goh Shu Xuan, Hazrilz Haiqal Zaizul Fazli, Lai Ting Cen and Vaneesa Ng.
Negeri Sembilan did not win any badminton medals at the last SUKMA and their best showing in the biennial games was winning one gold and seven bronze medals at SUKMA Perak in 2018.
-- BERNAMA
BERNAMA provides up-to-date authentic and comprehensive news and information which are disseminated via BERNAMA Wires; www.bernama.com; BERNAMA TV on Astro 502, unifi TV 631 and MYTV 121 channels and BERNAMA Radio on FM93.9 (Klang Valley), FM107.5 (Johor Bahru), FM107.9 (Kota Kinabalu) and FM100.9 (Kuching) frequencies.
Follow us on social media :
Facebook : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatv, @bernamaradio
Twitter : @bernama.com, @BernamaTV, @bernamaradio
Instagram : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatvofficial, @bernamaradioofficial
TikTok : @bernamaofficial
