12-year-old Aggie strikes gold
PETALING JAYA: Young wushu exponent Aggie Cheah struck gold to complete Malaysia’s best-ever outing in the Asian Junior Championships, which ended in Macau yesterday.
The 12-year-old won the girls’ Under-14 qiangshu (spear) competition and it was the fifth gold medal for Malaysia in the biennial championships.
At her age, Aggie showed tremendous potential to become a top exponent when she was picked to represent Penang in Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Terengganu last year.
With a background in gymnastics, it was not too long before she started to make headway in her first international assignment. She finished out of the medals in the earlier changquan (northern style barehands) competition.
Tai Cheau Xuen continued with her impressive form, partnering Kimberly Goh to take bronze in the girls’ Under-18 duilian (dual events).
It was the fourth medal in the Asian Juniors for the Negri Sembilan lass after producing golden performances in nanquan (southern style barehands) and nangun (cudgel). She took silver in the nandao (broadsword).
Another bronze came from Ping Khoon Ling in the boys’ Under-16 jiangshu (double-edged sword).
With a total medal haul of 5-5-9, the team have achieved the best-ever results for Malaysia in the Asian Juniors. Their previous best was a 3-2-3 haul at the last championships in Singapore.
And national junior coach Chong Min Fei attributed the achievements to the exponents’ commitment and determination to improve themselves.
“We sent the more experienced ones, among them Cheau Xuen, for training in China so that they would be able to handle the pressure and be more consistent. It was a good outing in Macua. We had gold medallists in all three age-group categories,” he said.
The other Malaysian gold medallists were Yap Zheng Yan (boys’ Under-16 daoshu) and See Min (girls’ Under-16 nanquan).
