Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
MUHD ANAQI Danish Asahrin had a perfect outing to clinch gold in the men's sabre event at the 12th Malaysia Open Fencing Championships 2023 on Monday.
The 23-year-old defeated Malaysian Teh Zi Hao 15-13 in the final at the Tan Sri Hamzah Arena.
He had completed the preliminary rounds with five wins out of five to see him seed first going into the knockouts.
Anaqi received a bye in the round of 32 and moved into the last-eight after Jovan Ooi Kwan Jie withdrew due to medical reasons.
He then dispatched American Davis Hartel 15-10 to advance to the semi-finals.
Anaqi worked for an 15-12 victory over Eason Kong to move into the title decider, which he prevailed.
When asked on what was key to his performance, Anaqi replied: "No matter how difficult your opponent is, the key is to not give up and always celebrate every point and effort."
His older brother Haziq fell in the last-16 while Adrian Wong was defeated in the round of 32.
Meanwhile, Norhaziqah Hj Zamri bagged the silver medal in the women's sabre event on Sunday.
She began the competition with six wins and a loss in the preliminary stage.
Norhaziqah then beat Kayli Leong 15-9 in the last-16 before defeating Caryn Chow 15-6 in the quarter-finals.
She won by the same scoreline against Kimberly Janet Ansibin in the semi-finals but fell to Resha Saveena Sabaratnam 15-11 in the final.
Anis Sabrina Yahya and Fatin Mejenie were the other two Bruneians in the event but were ousted in the quarters and last-16 respectively.
