By Amiril Muttaqien Meketar
KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 -- National artistic gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi is ready to rock Cairo when she competes in the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) Challenge Cup in the Egyptian capital next month.
After more than a year of not taking part in any competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a rock-steady performance in Cairo would surely give her a much-needed fillip ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in July.
That is understandable considering her last outing was at the Philippines SEA Games back in November 2019, when she dazzled her way to three gold medals in the all-around, floor exercise and uneven bars.
According to national women’s artistic gymnastics head coach Ng Shu Wai, Farah Ann will be competing in three events - uneven bars, beam and floor exercise – in Cairo as well.
And, despite her obvious lack of competitive edge, he told Bernama recently that he is confident “Farah Ann will be able to make the finals of all three events in Cairo”.
In fact, the former Olympian expects the 27-year-old Farah Ann to dazzle in Cairo and carry that momentum to the Tokyo Games, where she will be making her Olympic debut.
The Tokyo Olympics will be from July 23-Aug 8.
Prior to that, however, Ng said that Farah Ann would compete in a few internal meets before flying off to Japan for the world’s biggest multi-sports Games.
Farah Ann became the first Malaysian woman artistic gymnast to qualify for the Olympics in 20 years when she finished 16th out of 20 in the qualifying session of the individual all-around event at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Ng also confirmed that Farah Ann would not be a ‘lone ranger’ in Cairo as she will be accompanied by two other gymnasts - Tan Ing Yueh and Geanie Ng Ee Ling.
The 35-year-old coach said Tan will compete in three events (vault, uneven bars and beam) and Geanie in two (vault and floor exercise).
The FIG Challenge Cup is scheduled to be held at the Cairo International Stadium from June 3-6.
-- BERNAMA
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