Gymnastics: Hard work pays off for gymnasts

The rhythmic gymnastics team of (from left) Wan Siti Haniza, Foong Seow Ting, Chrystal Lim and Jamie Lee with their gold medals yesterday.

TWO rookies, who slept for only about four hours a day for seven months because of their hectic training schedule and preparation for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, helped the rhythmic gymnastics team to retain their gold medal yesterday.

Rhythmic gymnast Wan Siti Haniza Wan Izahar in action yesterday.

Jaime Lee and Wan Siti Haniza Wan Izahar lost lots of sleep before their examination because they had to train as well as study.

“Luckily it has paid off,” said Siti.

Both gymnasts were excited as it was their first Sea Games medal and gold at that.

Jaime and Siti competed in only two of the apparatus disciplines but did enough to lift the team to the first position.
Jaime competed in the rope where she scored 14.025 and loop (15.175) while Wan Siti Haniza competed in the clubs (13.950) and ribbon (14.462).

Foong Seow Ting, a gold medallist at the Manila Sea Games, and Lim Wen Chean were the other two members of the team.

The Malaysian quartet’s total score of 149.961 was enough to push hosts Thailand, with a 147.787 score, into second. Vietnam, with a score of 114.95, took the bronze.

However, the two newcomers failed to qualify for the Individual All Around which starts today.

Seow Ting, the most senior in the team, scored an average of 15.000, while Wen Chean scored an average of 15.400, to clinch the gold.

Both also qualified for the Individual All Around.

NST