Gymnast Wan Nin shines at world meet, good bet for gold at SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR: Rhythmic gymnast Lee Wan Nin showed that she can dance her way to a gold medal at the SEA Games in Indonesia after achieving Malaysia’s best result in the World Championships in Mont­pel­lier, France, yesterday.

The 16-year-old Wan Nin finished 30th in a 130-gymnast field with a combined score of 76.000 points in the individual all-around qualifying event.

The top 24 gymnasts who made the all-around final are guaranteed of places in the London Olympics next year. Wan Nin, by virtue of being third in the reserve list, will get to go if three of the top-24 gymnasts pull out.

The good news, however, is that she did better than her closest rival from the South-East Asia region – Thailand’s Tharatip Sridee, who finished in 58th spot with 72.400 points.

Star in the making: Lee Wan Nin gave Malaysia their best ever finish in rhythmic gymnastics at the world meet in France.

Wan Nin was most impressive in two apparatus – hoop and clubs – and was rewarded with identical scores of 25.700. “I am disappointed with my ball routine as I know I could have performed better.

“This finally affected my ranking and I’ve lost my chance to feature in the Olympic Games,” said Wan Nin, who has vowed to train harder for the future competitions.

Malaysia’s Amy Kwan, however, was forced to pull out from the world meet due to a leg injury.

Amy, who won a gold medal in the hoop event at the Asia Pacific Alliance gymnastics championships in Melbourne in May, will have to make a quick recovery if she hopes to get back into shape for the SEA Games.

Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) secretary N. Shanmugarajah, who was pleased with Wan Nin’s breakthrough performance, expects more promising results from the youngster.

“She is still young but she still managed to overcome the jitters to finish 30th in her first world meet. This is the best result by our rhythmic gymnasts in a world meet series,” beamed Shanmugarajah.

Malaysia’s previous best performer was Elaine Koon, who finished 40th in the world meet in Moscow last year.

Elaine, who won a hoop gold medal at the last year’s Common­wealth Games in India, however, retired from the sport this year.

“Based on her progress in the sport, Wan Nin could have been a multiple medal winner at the SEA Games this year if only the host had not cut down on the number of events. Indonesia are only hosting the individual and team events in the rhythmic gymnastics in Palembang,” he said.

“We are not taking part in the team event because we are short of elite gymnasts. Wan Nin and Amy will take part in the individual all-around event. For now, Wan Nin certainly looks good to win the solitary medal for Malaysia in the rhythmic event.”

Shanmugarajah also credited Wan Nin and the other senior gymnasts’ improvement to the short training stint in St Petersburg, Russia, from Aug 9-30.

He said it also benefited the younger group.

Besides the two seniors, Malaysia had also sent a five-member junior team of Wong Poh Sam, Fatin Zakirah Jalany, Ooi Emma, S. Shasangari and Olivia Tai Qing Tong for exposure in Russia under the charge of national coach Elena Kholodova.

“The juniors returned home just before the world meet but they certainly gained valuable experience. This group of gymnasts are being groomed for the next Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014 and the Asian Games in South Korea in 2016,” said Shan­mugarajah.

Tracie’s Olympic Dream Comes To An End

KUALA LUMPUR: Top artistic gymnast Tracie Ang’s dream of qualifying for the London Olympic Games is over.

Women’s artistic coach Mikhail Gutsalyuk confirmed yesterday that he had dropped Tracie from the squad for the World Championships in Tokyo next month because of her ankle injury.

The world meet is the qualifying tournament for next year’s Olympic Games in London.

In Tracie’s absence, only Farah Ann Hadi is left to carry the torch for Malaysia in the world meet.

Tracie, who injured her ankle during the Asean Schools Games in Singapore in July, was dejected at missing the opportunity to compete in her first world meet.

On the mend: Gymnast Tracie Ang is recovering from an ankle injury and has been dropped from the World Championships squad.

“The cast on my ankle has been removed but I have not fully recovered. The world meet is next month and I am still not ready. It will take some time to get back my form,” said Tracie.

“I have been undergoing a rehabilitation programme and light intensity training since injuring my ankle. I have not competed in any warm-up tournaments because of this. My ankle still hurts when I do certain exercises.

“I am sad because I have really put in a lot of effort to be ready for the world meet since the start of the year. Injuries have really been a problem for me.”

The pint-sized lass, however, does not plan to give up the sport yet.

“I still believe I can do well if I am injury-free. I will try to hang on and make a comeback,” said Tracie, who is not the first gymnast under Gutsalyuk’s charge to have suffered from injuries.

Two others in the elite team – Noor Hasleen Fatihin Hasnan and Nur Ily Ilyana Azmi – are also carrying injuries.

Earlier this year, two top gymnasts – Cheong See Teng and Chan Sau Wah – quit the national team due to persistent shoulder and ankle injuries respectively.

With the national team in such a sorry state, it’s almost impossible for Malaysia to even hope for a medal at the SEA Games in Jakarta in November.

Gymnastics used to be one of the big medal contributors for Malaysia in the SEA Games.

Asked if Gutsalyuk’s coaching methods were too hard on the gymnasts, thus triggering the spate of injuries among the gymnasts since he took over the national team two years ago, Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) president Datuk Dr Zakaria Ahmad said he would wait for the coach’s report first.

“Coaches are responsible for the selection of athletes for tournaments and they know best the athletes’ conditions. Mikhail is a good coach and he has done well to raise the standard of our gymnasts,” said Zakaria.

“Gymnastics, especially artistic, is an injury-prone sport. The more we try to raise the level of difficulties, the more we risk the gymnasts getting injured. Anyway, I will look into Mikhail’s report on Tracie.”