SILAT exponent Zulfazly Zulfakar followed in his father’s footsteps when he beat Indonesia’s Hanifan Kusumah 3-2 to win the Sea Games gold in tanding D class (60-65kg) at the Subic Bay Convention Centre yesterday.
Incidentally, his father — Zulfakar Abdul Majid — also won gold in the 1991 Philippines Sea Games.
“My personal aims were to match my father’s feat and sing ‘Negaraku’ while perched atop the podium.
“I’ve achieved both in my first Games outing,” said Zulfazly, who also credited skipper Faizul M. Nasir for his victory.
“The captain reminded me that I was the only hope for Malaysia as Faizul was knocked out of the tournament with a nasty kick to the neck.
“He told me to fight till the end, and that’s one of the reasons I won gold today,” said Zulfazly.