Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL wushu exponent Basma Lachkar is given the honour of carrying the Brunei flag during the opening ceremony of the 30th SEA Games on Nov 30 in the Philippines.
She will become the fourth straight wushu athlete after Mohd Adi Sya'rani Roslan (2013), Faustina Woo Wai Sii (2015) and Mohd Adi Salihin Roslan (2017) to lead the Brunei contingent out at the biennial Games.
“I feel honoured to be selected as the flag-bearer,” said Basma in an interview with BruSports News yesterday.
“I will do my very best for Brunei for this year’s SEA Games,” added the 16-year-old, who was also Brunei’s flag-bearer at the 18th Asian Games held in Palembang, Indonesia in September last year.
Basma came close to a gold medal at the previous SEA Games after she finished runners-up in the women’s taijiquan event.
More recently she bagged a gold medal in the taijiquan youth event and a silver in the taijijian youth event at the 10th Asian Junior Wushu Championships in August.
The wushu team are in China for intensive training since October 19 and will return to the Sultanate tomorrow.
When asked on preparations for the Games, Basma replied: “We are in China to have intensive training here. We all managed to improve our performances before competition.”
Brunei’s campaign at the SEA Games kicked off today with the Polo Team edging the Philippines 8.5-8 in Division A in Calatagan.
Brunei will be represented by 87 athletes competing in 14 sports: athletics, cue sports, fencing, football, golf, karatedo, lawn bowls, netball, pencak silat, polo, swimming, taekwondo, 10-pin bowling and wushu.
The Sultanate finished the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur with a tally of five silver and nine bronze medals that saw them finish 10th in the 11-country table.
