MANILA, Dec 2 — National gymnastics queen Farah Ann Abdul Hadi and Tan Ing Yueh gave the women’s artistic gymnastic squad a glittering start at the 30th SEA Games by claiming gold and bronze respectively in the all-around event today.
The 25-year-old Farah, energised by loud cheers from the spectators at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum here, topped the field with 48.05 points in total for the four routines.
Farah, who has booked her berth to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, started well by amassing 13.55 points in vault and 12.45 points in uneven bar, but was shaky in balance beam to score only 9.550.
However, the pretty lady mesmerised everyone with her moves in the floor exercise to score 12.50 points to bag her first SEA Games gold in the all-around event, which is also her 10th medal in the regional Games.
Indonesian Rifda Irfanaluthfi claimed the silver with 47.80 points in total, followed closely by Ing Yueh with 46.90 points to complete a double podium finish for the country.
Talking to reporters after the medal presentation ceremony, Farah said the gold medal was special as she had been dreaming of this feat for a long time.
“Every time I come into competitions, I just want to do my routine, do the very best I could and avoid mistakes. The crowd here is amazing; the Filipino people are nice, (I’m) very happy and glad to get their support.
“After I got to balance beam and fell in my first routine, I got a bit nervous. I was trying to not make major mistakes because the marks will be a lot lower than what I would want to have.
“After that I just wanted to go out on the floor and enjoy my routine because it is a competition and anything can happen. For the upcoming events, I think it is 50-50. I am very happy today and wanted to do my very best,” she said.
She will next compete in the women’s individual vault and uneven bar events tomorrow.
Farah had won four gold medals in team and floor exercise events at the 2015 Singapore and 2017 KL Games. — Bernama
