Sports

Saturday September 24, 2011

Gymnast Wan Nin shines at world meet, good bet for gold at SEA Games

By RAJES PAUL


KUALA LUMPUR: Rhythmic gymnast Lee Wan Nin showed that she can dance her way to a gold medal at the SEA Games in Indonesia after achieving Malaysia’s best result in the World Championships in Mont­pel­lier, France, yesterday.

The 16-year-old Wan Nin finished 30th in a 130-gymnast field with a combined score of 76.000 points in the individual all-around qualifying event.

The top 24 gymnasts who made the all-around final are guaranteed of places in the London Olympics next year. Wan Nin, by virtue of being third in the reserve list, will get to go if three of the top-24 gymnasts pull out.

The good news, however, is that she did better than her closest rival from the South-East Asia region – Thailand’s Tharatip Sridee, who finished in 58th spot with 72.400 points.

Star in the making: Lee Wan Nin gave Malaysia their best ever finish in rhythmic gymnastics at the world meet in France.

Wan Nin was most impressive in two apparatus – hoop and clubs – and was rewarded with identical scores of 25.700. “I am disappointed with my ball routine as I know I could have performed better.

“This finally affected my ranking and I’ve lost my chance to feature in the Olympic Games,” said Wan Nin, who has vowed to train harder for the future competitions.

Malaysia’s Amy Kwan, however, was forced to pull out from the world meet due to a leg injury.

Amy, who won a gold medal in the hoop event at the Asia Pacific Alliance gymnastics championships in Melbourne in May, will have to make a quick recovery if she hopes to get back into shape for the SEA Games.

Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) secretary N. Shanmugarajah, who was pleased with Wan Nin’s breakthrough performance, expects more promising results from the youngster.

“She is still young but she still managed to overcome the jitters to finish 30th in her first world meet. This is the best result by our rhythmic gymnasts in a world meet series,” beamed Shanmugarajah.

Malaysia’s previous best performer was Elaine Koon, who finished 40th in the world meet in Moscow last year.

Elaine, who won a hoop gold medal at the last year’s Common­wealth Games in India, however, retired from the sport this year.

“Based on her progress in the sport, Wan Nin could have been a multiple medal winner at the SEA Games this year if only the host had not cut down on the number of events. Indonesia are only hosting the individual and team events in the rhythmic gymnastics in Palembang,” he said.

“We are not taking part in the team event because we are short of elite gymnasts. Wan Nin and Amy will take part in the individual all-around event. For now, Wan Nin certainly looks good to win the solitary medal for Malaysia in the rhythmic event.”

Shanmugarajah also credited Wan Nin and the other senior gymnasts’ improvement to the short training stint in St Petersburg, Russia, from Aug 9-30.

He said it also benefited the younger group.

Besides the two seniors, Malaysia had also sent a five-member junior team of Wong Poh Sam, Fatin Zakirah Jalany, Ooi Emma, S. Shasangari and Olivia Tai Qing Tong for exposure in Russia under the charge of national coach Elena Kholodova.

“The juniors returned home just before the world meet but they certainly gained valuable experience. This group of gymnasts are being groomed for the next Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014 and the Asian Games in South Korea in 2016,” said Shan­mugarajah.

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