HANGZHOU, Sept 29 — A historic gold by seasoned campaigner Mohd Qabil Ambak Mahamad Fathil for the individual dressage event, with his favourite horse Rosenstolz, lit up the Malaysian camp on the fifth day of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games (Asiad).
Qabil, 43, who made his debut at the 1998 Asiad in Bangkok, Thailand, finally clinched his first gold medal of his Asiad campaign — which was also the first for equestrian in the dressage event.
In today’s routine, Qabil, astride Rosenstolz, received a winning 75.78 points at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre.
At the 2018 Asiad hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta-Palembang, Qabil won a silver, while he won two bronze at the 2010 Asiad in Guangzhou and 2006 Asiad in Doha.
In track cycling, national rider Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, shouldering the responsibility of winning medals in the absence of the injured track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang, lived up to expectations by winning bronze in the men’s sprint after beating China’s Chenxi Xeu 2-0.
The 27-year-old rider had a glimpse of the gold won by Azizulhasni when the former rode a fantastic race to beat Japan’s Shinji Nakano in the quarterfinals.
However, his win in the semifinals was annulled when he was adjudged to have crossed into the lane of his opponent and Japan’s Kaiya Ota went on to clinch the gold after beating a Chinese rider in the final.
Hopes remained high at the squash courts as the men’s and women’s teams march into semifinals as leaders of their respective groups and face India and South Korea today.
The men’s hockey team also kept their momentum going by crushing Indonesia 9-2 in a Group B match, after having whipped Thailand 9-0 and Oman 11-1.
However, the men’s badminton squad were shown the exit in the first round by South Korea, missing any chance of a medal from the team event.
Hopes now hinge on the individual events, both in the men’s singles and doubles, which start on Monday.
Malaysia are 14th on the medal tally with two golds, two silvers and five bronzes as of tonight, while China continue to dominate with a tally of 90-51-26, including 14 golds won yesterday alone.
The national contingent will have the opportunity to increase the medal haul today through sepak takraw when it competes against defending champions Thailand in the team event, while track cyclist Shah Firdaus competes in the men’s keirin.
And all eyes will be on the Hangzhou Olympic Games Central Stadium as sprint champions Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi and Umar Osman compete in the first round of the men’s 100m and 400m events, respectively.
— Bernama
