PHNOM PENH: Nur Assyira Zainal Abidin (pictured) brought cheer to the country’s mountain biking camp when she won the silver medal in the women’s cross country Olympic individual event at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia yesterday.
The 29-year-old rider finished the 18.5-kilometre race in Kulen Mountain, Siem Reap, which is located about 320 kilometres from the Cambodian capital, in a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes 9 seconds.
The success of the national women’s mountain bike champion in winning the silver was a repeat her achievement at the last edition in Hanoi, Vietnam last year.
Sayu Bella Sukma Dewi of Indonesia topped the event which took place in weather conditions reaching almost 40 degrees Celsius, with a time of 1:13.48s, while the bronze medal belonged to Thai rider Yonthanan Phonkla who recorded 1:18.42s.
Two other national riders, Phi Kun Pan and Natahsya Soon, finished the race in eighth and 10th position respectively after recording times of 1:24:37s and 1:26:42s.
Team manager, Mohd Saiful Abdul Jalil described Nur Assyira’s success as a surprise considering that Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines lined up some great riders.
“Yes, Nur Assyira won silver in Hanoi last year, but based on paper, at the race here we didn’t have high hopes in the individual events because the other countries were fielding very good riders.
“But we are grateful to be able to bring home the silver medal today. Our target is in the cross country team relay event to contribute a gold medal for Malaysia tomorrow,” he said.
For the record, the national mountain biking squad created a historic achievement at the edition in Hanoi, when they won the first gold medal in the team cross country event (relay) in the history of the event at the SEA Games. – BERNAMA
