PHNOM PENH, May 6 — The third time was not a charm.
National jujitsu exponent Adam Akasyah failed to complete his medal set as he was only able to secure bronze in men’s NE-Waza-Gi below 69 kilogrammes (kg) at the 2023 SEA Games here today.
Adam, who won silver in Hanoi 2021, defeated the Philippines’ Michael Bryan Tiu 4-2 in the bronze medal match, thus repeating his Manila 2019 achievement, which was also his debut at the biennial games.
Despite winning bronze, Adam admitted that he was not too bummed out on his failure to create history as the first Malaysian to win jujitsu gold in SEA Games.
“I am grateful as I have made so many improvements and did better (as compared to two previous SEA Games).
“I can say my pace had improved a lot and managed to escape certain bad positions that often took a toll on me previously,” he told reporters when met after the medal ceremony at the Chroy Changvar Convention Centre here.
Earlier, Adam went down to his archrival-cum defending champion Noah Lim of Singapore 0-4 in the semi- finals.
Commenting on his bout against the Singaporean, the sports science student from Universiti Malaya said his mistakes in the earlier stage of the fight had proved costly.
“I missed the grip exchange in the beginning, and it cost me the match,” he said.
Noah, on the other hand, beat Jedidiah Phomsavath Slayman of Laos 5-0 to win his second gold in a row, having won his first in Hanoi 2021. — Bernama
