Esmelda emerges as junior gymnastics champ

Esmelda Arecia Menti Alfred Geling of Sarawak emerged as the junior champion of the 28th National Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Sunday with a haul of five gold medals and one bronze. - Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak’s Esmelda Arecia Menti Alfred Geling emerged as the women’s junior champion after a commanding performance in the 28th National Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Sunday.

The 13-year-old pocketed an impressive five golds and one bronze. Esmelda topped the competition in the vault (12.900), balance beam (12.70), uneven bars (11.25), individual all-around (49.15) as well as the team event with Nur Amirah Idayah, Syahsani Izzati, Dewi Nisrina and Kameliana Goh.

Esmelda’s only blemish came in the floor exercise. She suffered a fall in her routine and it cost her dearly. She ended up with a score of 11.70 points to finish third behind Selangor’s Nur Azira Aziri (11.90) and Penang’s Rachel Yeoh (11.80).

“I’m very happy. I wanted to do my best and although it was not a clean sweep, I’m still happy with my performance,” said Kuching-born Esmelda after the competition at Gym 3 at the National Sports Council (NSC) in Bukit Jalil.

In the women’s senior category, Selangor’s Letitia Ng was crowned the new national champion. The 18-year-old won all the five golds, winning the balance beam (9.50), floor exercise (10.10), uneven bars (8.00), vault (11.650) and individual all-around (39.90).

The competition, however, was overshadowed by the fact that it only had three competitors. Besides Letitia, the other participants were Sabah’s Siti Shafira Atika Mohd Fazli and Jussrieyana Ahmad Dafriy. National gymnasts – Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, Tracie Ang, Tan Ing Yueh and Nur Eli Elina Azmi – were absence due to injuries.

It was Letitia’s biggest medal haul and she said it felt weird to have so many medals around her neck.

“I didn’t know only the three of us would be competing,” said Letitia. “Winning like this is bittersweet. I would have preferred to compete against a bigger field,” added the Taylor’s University Canadian pre-university student.

In the men’s competition, NSC’s Chen Guo Jun took the senior title after clinching four golds (floor exercise, rings, parallel bars and all-around individual) and a bronze (horizontal bars).

Selangor’s Benjamin Cheong landed the men’s junior title with four golds in the parallel bars, pommel horse, rings and all-around individual.

http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Gymnastics/2013/11/17/Esmelda-emerges-as-junior-gymnastics-champ/

Gymnast Rachel in peak form for nationals

Rachel Yeoh, who won three gold medals at the SportExcel Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, will be looking to excel again at the National Championships on Sunday. - The STAR/ Samuel Ong

KUALA LUMPUR: The SportExcel Artistic Gymnastics Championships served as a good warm-up for national elite gymnast Rachel Yeoh ahead of the national championships which take place on Sunday.

On Saturday, Rachel, who competed in the Class Three and Four category swept up the gold in her favourite event, the uneven bars, with a score of 8.60 ahead of Selangor’s Nor Azira Aziri (8.40) and Pahang’s Siti Nur Bahirah Husniah (6.55). She also emerged tops in the floor exercise and the individual all-round event, but had to settle for silver and bronze in vault and balance beam respectively.

“I’m happy with my result ... but I want to do even better for the nationals tomorrow (Sunday),” said Rachel when met at Gym 3 of the National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil.

The 15-year-old Penangite and double bronze medallist from this year’s Sukma Games will compete in the junior category of the nationals against those aged 15 and younger, including Sarawak’s Esmelda Arecia Menti Alfred Geling who took the Games by storm after winning two gold medals, three silver and a bronze.

However, Rachel, who will be eligible to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in July and at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in September will have bigger things on her mind as she focuses on qualifying for her first major event.

National women’s artistic gymnastics head coach Nurul Fatiha Abdul Hamid who has taken Rachel under her wing since the Sukma Games in June said the youngster has shown much promise.

“Rachel has been training under me for the past five, six months and she’s really starting to take shape. I’m happy with how she did today, but I’m hoping she can improve on her performance and really go for it at the nationals tomorrow,” said Nurul Fatiha.

Meanwhile in the SportExcel Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, 13-year-old Izzah Amzan did just enough to clinch the individual all-round title after she managed to bag one gold (ball), one silver (clubs) and one bronze (ribbon) as she bested her nearest rivals and national development squad team-mates with a combined score of 56.800. Olivia Tai took the silver with 56.516 while Koi Sie Yan was third with 55.816.

http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Gymnastics/2013/11/16/Gymnast-Rachel-in-peak-form-for-nationals/