PHNOM PENH: The national taekwondo poomsae team kicked up a storm and delivered two gold medals at the Sea Games yesterday.
Nur Humaira Abdul Karim delivered a surprise gold medal in the women's individual recognised poomsae after collecting 7.430 points, upstaging Singapore's Diyanah Aqidah Muhammad Dian Khudairi with 7.260 points while Cambodia's Mang Kanithyda was third with 7.090 at the Chroy Vangar Convention Centre.
Minutes later, Nur Humaira's elder sister Nurul Hidayah and her partner Ryan Loo captured the second gold from the mixed team recognised poomsae after edging Vietnam by 0.01 points.
Both Malaysia and Vietnam collected identical 7.550 points, but Malaysia nicked the gold from the tie-breaking presentation stage with 4.34 points over 4.33. The Philippines picked up the bronze medal with 7.500
Nur Humairah said she didn't expect the gold from the individual event but the earlier disappointment of missing the gold in the women's team recognised event spurred her to go for the gold medal.
The women's team of Nurul Hidayah, Nur Humairah and Lim Jia Wei settled for the silver medal in the women's team recognised event with 7.700pts. The Philippines picked up the gold with 7.500 and Thailand won the bronze with 7.660
"I am glad to win the medal, I didn't expect the individual gold, we targeted to win the women's team event but we missed by a close point and I wanted to reclaim a gold medal.
"The coach said this is the chance for us to win the gold medal in the individual after we missed the women's team event. I felt motivated, and I did my best to win the gold. We trained in South Korea for a month before the Sea Games, and it boosted our confidence."
Meanwhile, Hidayah who was in tears after missing the women's team recognised gold medal, quickly regrouped and delivered the gold with Jason Loo.
"We are grateful for the win, we had supportive teammates and coaches. My sister did better than we expected. She won the gold, so we felt we needed to go and get the other gold as well."
The taekwondo team also delivered a silver in the men's individual recognised poomsae from Chin Ken Haw bringing the tally to two gold and two silver.