NAYPYITAW, Dec 13 — The national silat squad can breathe a sigh of relief when two of its athletes made it to the finals at the 27th SEA Games after beating their opponents in the semi-final at the Zaher Thiri Closed Stadium, near here yesterday.
As expected, experienced Ahmad Shahril Zailudin who contested in the Class D Putra event (60-65kg category) easily beat Thai silat athlete, Sakda Omkaeo 5-0.
Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari (65-70kg category) also performed excellently in Class E Putra beating Somkid Rakjun of Thailand 5-0.
Ahmad Shahril, 23 tahun said he was thankful to qualify to the finals to defend the gold he won in Indonesia two years ago.
Meanwhile, national silat squad assistant manager Datuk Osman Nok said the success of the two national athletes proved that it is among the major silat powerhouses in South East Asia and he hoped another silat athlete could advance to the finals tomorrow.
“It is hoped with this development, the target of three gold medals can be achieved,” he said.
Unofficially, two bronze medals through silat were contributed by Muhamad Helmi Abdul Aziz and Muhammad Saiful Syazwan Rahmat who lost to their respective opponents in the semi-final this evening.
In the Indonesian edition previously, Malaysia collected three gold medals from silat. — Bernama
