KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia capped a sensational campaign at the Under-18 Asian Junior Championships in Doha with a golden double in the Masters finals on Saturday, courtesy of Qurratu’ain Izdihar Pozi and Aqil Faizal.
Qurratu’ain completed a perfect five-out-of-five clean sweep, winning all gold medals at stake in the girls’ division, while Aqil claimed his second gold of the tournament after helping Malaysia to the boys’ team title on Thursday.
It was also a 1-2 finish for Malaysia in the girls’ Masters as Qurratu’ain defeated Adelia Nur Syazalee 378-370 in the two-game final.
Aqil came from behind to edge Kuwait’s Nasser Alkandari 461-404 in the boys’ title match.
Qurratu’ain continued her dominant form by topping the 16-player roll-off with 3,411 pinfalls over two days to secure the No. 1 seeding for the stepladder finals.
Adelia was second on 3,367, while Taiwan’s Huang Hsin Teng (3,274) was third.
Adelia then ensured the gold would remain with Malaysia by defeating Hsin Teng 269-213 in the one-game semi-final.
In the boys’ division, Aqil qualified second with 3,834 pinfalls behind Nasser (3,866) and ahead of Hong Kong’s Dylan Lam (3,724).
Aqil earned his crack at the title by beating Dylan 229-191 in the semi-final before turning the tables on Nasser in the final.
With the Masters triumphs, Malaysia added three more medals — two golds and a silver — to their tally, having already secured the overall champions’ crown two days earlier.
They wrapped up the tournament with a haul of seven golds, one silver and five bronzes, marking possibly their best-ever performance in the championship’s history.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
