Commonwealth Games: Not impossible for judokas to upstage - CDM

NILAI, July 6 (Bernama) -- The mission of bringing home a judo medal from Birmingham is no easy feat but not an impossible task for the country’s two young judokas Amir Daniel Abdul Majeed and Kamini Sri Segaran, says Malaysia’s chef-de-mission (CDM) to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya.

He said the Hanoi SEA Games in May saw the two exponents impress with the bronze in the men's under-73 kg and women's under-57 kg respectively, and they were now capable of upstaging even higher odds at the Games in Birmingham.

“It is not something easy but it is not impossible because we know there are many countries that have very great athletes at the world level, but I hope they can spring a surprise.

"The challenge is momentous at the Commonwealth Games because there are many judo athletes that they have never met … this kind of sport is subjective because it (judging) has a jury, so we hope they give their best, who knows if we get lucky there may be a medal in store for us," he said.

He was speaking to reporters after inspecting athletes' training camp for the Commonwealth Games at the National Velodrome here today.

Shahrul Zaman also described the participation of the two judokas at the Birmingham event as testimony that Malaysian judo had the potential to reap positive results in the future.

Meanwhile, Amir Daniel, 18, admitted that he was a bit jittery to bring the national challenge to the Games but through the guidance of coach Md Nashriq Md Nassir, he was optimistic of at least advancing to the quarterfinals.

He said the success at the Hanoi SEA Games and the achievement of 8As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) recently, were great motivation for him, especially in his debut appearance at the Commonwealth Games.

"Currently, my focus is on tactics because all the other countries are strong, so we need to have strength and technique," he said.

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games is scheduled to run from July 28 to Aug 8, with the national judo team expected to begin action on Aug 1.

In another development, Shahrul Zaman was optimistic that both national divers Datuk Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri would be able to contribute gold medals in Birmingham following their podium finishes in the 19th World Aquatics Championships (WAC) in Budapest, Hungary, last week.

Pandelela won the bronze in the women's 10m platform event , while she paired with Nur Dhabitah to win the women's 10m synchronised platform event.

-- BERNAMA