Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL wushu athlete Basma Lachkar made Brunei proud as she clinched a historic gold at the World Games 2022 in Birmingham, USA.
She finished on the top of the podium of the women's combined taijiquan and taijijian event after tallying a total of 19.040 points (9.517 + 9.523) in the field of six athletes.
Chinese-Taipei's Liu Pei-hsun finished in the runners-up spot on 19.013 while Vera Tan of Singapore completed the podium on 18.947.
Basma had qualified for the competition after finishing seventh at the World Wushu Championships in Shanghai, China back in 2019.
Only the top 10 were awarded a slot in the event at the Games - which is held the year after the Olympics and consists of sports which weren't contested then.
National wushu coach Li Hui is extremely proud of his athlete.
"Winning this gold medal hasn't been easy. We are very happy to see her finish on top of the podium," said Li Hui.
"Basma's performance today (Wedneday) was perfect. She completed all the difficult movements and jumps really well.
"It was a very proud moment to watch the Brunei flag raised especially at the World Games," he concluded.
