Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Gold From Wei Seang, Sau Wah Save Artistic Gymnastics The Blushes

KORAT, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Ooi Wei Seang and Chan Sau Wah saved the Malaysian artistic gymnastics team the blushes at the Korat SEA Games after emerging with a gold medal each in their respective events at the King's Anniversary Indoor Stadium 1 here today.

Wei Seang who missed the men's All-Round gold after losing to home favourite Rartchawat Kaewpany yesterday, came good to win the gold in the Horizontal Bar with 14.000 points but not before some anxious moments when Vietnam's Pham Phuoc Hung had also scored identical points.

The jury later decided to award both gymnasts the gold.

"The few anxious moments before the announcement of the results was nerve-wrecking to say the least," said Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) secretary general N. Shanmugarajah after the event.

It was the second gold for Malaysia when artistic gymnastics competitions rolled up the mats today, as Chan Sau Wah had earlier ensured that Malaysia retained the Uneven Bars gold for the second consecutive SEA Games after edging Singapore's Nicole Tay Xi Hui in a nail-biting encounter.

Wei Seang had earlier finished third in the men's Rings and Vault.

Sau Wah, making her second consecutive appearance in the SEA Games, scored 13.175 points, a mere 0.025 points better than Nicole Tay's 13.150 while Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Duong took the bronze with 13.125.

During the 2005 Manila SEA Games, Nurul Fatiha Abdul Hamid won the Uneven Bars gold, incidently after beating Nicole Tay while Sau Wah had only a bronze to show then, from the Team event.

Artistic gymnastics contributed five gold medals in Manila with now retired Ng Shu Wai accounting for three of them while rhythmic gymnastics added another five gold medals in Manila to make it 10.

"My best finish for the individual events in Manila was eighth placing in the Balance Beam so this is certainly a satisfying moment for me," said Sau Wah.

-- BERNAMA

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