Cycling

Turkish delight for Aisyah

KUALA LUMPUR: Debutante Nur Aisyah Zubir was the toast of Malaysia when she bagged a silver and a bronze in cycling at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey on Tuesday.

Aisyah took the women's scratch race silver and omnium bronze.

Kazakhstan's Rinata Sultanova won both the scratch and omnium titles.

Sofiya Karimova of Kazakhstan bagged bronze in scratch, while Indonesia's Ayustina Delia Prianta took silver in the omnium event.

The 24-year-old Aisyah, who won the criterium bronze at the Hanoi Sea Game in May, was happy with her performance in her first Islamic Games.

"I was unaware of how good other cyclists were, but I did well to win two medals," said Aisyah, who won seven gold medals at the 2018 Perak Malaysia Games.

Meanwhile, debutante Nor Sarah Adi overcame strong winds to win bronze in the women's pole vault at the Konya Athletics Field on Monday.

The Pahang-born cleared 3.90m, and her effort was 10cm short of her personal best achieved when she won gold at the Sea Games.

The medal was an early birthday present for Sarah, who will turn 22 on Aug 20.

Turkey's Buse Arikazan and Demet Parlak shared the gold by clearing 4.00m.

"I had never experienced strong winds during a competition. The pole was moving backwards, and I had to take two or three attempts to clear a height.

"However, I am glad I did enough to take the bronze. It is an early birthday day gift for me."

Sprinters Haiqal Hanafi and Khairul Hafiz Jantan, meanwhile, failed to qualify for the men's 100m final.

Former Sea Games champion Haiqal clocked 10.46 to finish fifth in the second semi-finals. Khairul, who has a PB of 10.18, clocked 10.49 for fifth place in the third semis.

Discus thrower Queenie Kung, a silver medallist in Hanoi, hurled 48.72m to finish fourth among six women athletes.

In the women's hammer, Nurul Hidayah Lukman, who won silver at the Asean University Games in Thailand, finished eighth with 51.59m.

Most Popular
Related Article
Says Stories