PALEMBANG, Dec 15 — Mohamad Arif Zulhilmi Alet and S. Navin Raj won a gold medal each on the opening day of the 17th Asean University Games (AUG) at the Jakabaring Athletic Stadium here today.

Mohamad Arif, who is also a national athlete, recorded the fastest time of 47.74 seconds in the men’s 400 metres to beat Vietnamese athlete, Quach Cong Lich, who took the silver medal after clocking 47.96s.  

Host athlete, Edi Ariansyah, won the bronze medal in 48.78s.

“I am very happy to have successfully defended the gold medal I won two years ago in Laos. However, I could not beat my best time of 47.42s which I recorded at the Malaysia Games in Perlis,” he told reporters here, today.

Meanwhile, Navin beat teammate A. Kavee in men’s high jump despite having to share the same height of 2.09 metres.

Navin made his first jump of 2.09 metres, while Kavee jumped the same height on the second attempt. The bronze medal went to Rattapo Kaewkampod of Thailand, who jumped the height of 2.00 metres.

In the women’s 400-metre event, Nurul Faizah Asma Mazlan won the silver medal after clocking 57.05s behind Quach Thi Lan of Vietnam who won the gold medal in 53.35s. The bronze medal went to Sri Mayasari of Indonesia who completed the race in 57.50s.

The nation’s men’s and women’s sprint athletes, Jonathan Nyepa and Zaidatul Husnia Zulkifli each won the silver medal in the men’s and women’s 100 metre event today.

Credit should be given to Nyepa, who was taking part in the international event for the first time, with a record of 10.55s behind his challenger Iswandi of Indonesia, 10.46s.

Meanwhile, Zaidatul Husnia almost grabbed the gold with only a difference of 0.01 second behind the gold medal winner, Vu Thi Huong of Vietnam (11.61s).

Host sprint athlete, Anelis Unani Serafi won the bronze medal in a time of 12.00s.

In the women’s discuss event, Yap Jeng Tzan also won a silver medal with a throw of 44.39 metres.

The gold medal for the event was won by Insaeng Subenrat of Thailand with 56.85 metres while Lee Shih Yan of Singapore took the bronze medal (42.59 metres). — Bernama