HANOI: National petanque athlete Syed Afiq Fakhri Syed Ali is determined to bounce back from the failure to advance to the final of the mixed doubles event at the 31st SEA Games.
The 8-13 defeat to Cambodian pairing Vong Sin-Chantha Vorng saw Syed Afiq, who was paired with his sister, Sharifah Afiqah Farzana settle for the bronze in their debut appearance at the biennial sporting event.
“This defeat motivates us to move forward and this defeat does not sadden us but rather lifts our spirit to continue to fight,“ said Syed Afiq, who is pursuing his Diploma in Sports and Recreation Science at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam.
Immediately after the match which took place at the Hanoi Sports and Competition Training Centre, Syed Afiq and his sister, who pulled off shock wins against Vietnam and Thailand in the round-robin yesterday, had tears rolling down their cheeks.
The success of winning a medal in their first appearance must have been gratifying, but Syed Afiq could not hold back the tears after looking at the disappointment on his sister’s face.
“Actually, I tried to hold back my tears, but my sister cried, and out of love a brother has for his younger sibling, I also felt sad and overwhelmed,“ he said.
Meanwhile, Sharifah Afiqah admitted that she could not hold back her tears after failing to achieve her dream of bringing home a gold medal for the country.
“I cried because I couldn’t win the gold medal for everyone and because I gave my best,“ said the 18-year-old athlete who sat for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination recently.
Like her brother, the former student of SMK Sultan Omar in Dungun, Kuala Terengganu said today’s failure would fuel her spirit to work harder and achieve better success.
She also hoped that there would be more opportunities to participate in more international tournaments to gain experience and feel the atmosphere and pressure of playing abroad.
Meanwhile, the gold medal was won by Vong-Chantha after beating the host nation’s Thach Pha Nara-Nguyen Van Quang in the final while Thailand, represented by Sunitra Phuangyoo-Phongsakron Ainpu were joint winners of the bronze. - Bernama
