Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL pencak silat exponent Anisah Najihah Abdullah is ready to make her SEA Games debut in the women’s seni tunggal event later this month.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Anisah having to take half a year off to further her studies in Kuala Lumpur before returning in July.
It was only a month later that she found out that she will be go to the SEA Games.
However, that didn’t stop her from winning bronze at the Pre-SEA Games and silver in the regu event at the Singapore Open - both just last month.
The 22-year-old felt that she is ready and is targeting to make it into the final of her event.
“My coach told me that I’m confirmed for the SEA Games in August and that’s when I started intensive training,” said Anisah in an interview with BruSports News on Wednesday.
“I normally train under coach Hassan (Hj Tuah) at Menglait and had to make the switch to be coached under Hj Khairul for the Games.
“There will be 9-10 countries for my event and my target is to be in top-five or at least quality for the final,” she added.
Hj Md Khairul Bahrin HJ Duraman is no stranger in the pencak silat scene having won the gold medal in the men’s tunggal event at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.
The 35-year-old believes that Anisah can only get better.
“She has been under me for only two months before the Pre-SEA Games where she did well (to win bronze),” said Hj Khairul.
“Other countries were a bit surprised after asking how long she prepared for.
“They also believe that if she continues training consistently for the long term, she will be even better,” he added.
“Right now we are working on polishing and sharpening her movements and also focusing on her speed.
“important is her conditioning and stamina as her movements slow down when stamina is low and unable to follow the tempo,” continued Hj Khairul.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Isyraq Zulfadli Ali will be the other Brunei silat exponent to the Games and he will contest in the men’s tanding Class B (50-55kg).
National tanding coach Suhartono felt that preparations are going accordingly.
“We are training as normal and picked up the intensity after the Pre-SEA Games and the SIngapore Open,” said the 60-year-old.
“We are doing our best to prepare and hope to challenge the others during the competition,” concluded the Indonesian.
