Towering An Najwa Leads KL To Clinch Title In The State Sports Schools Carnival

By Y.P. SIVAM
metrospt@thestar.com.my


LANKY An Najwa Azizan played an inspiring role in Kuala Lumpur’s impressive outing in the netball competition of the State Sports Schools Carnival at the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) Hall in Taman Sri Andalas, Klang recently.

An Najwa, standing at 1.78m, outshone her rivals and helped Kuala Lumpur to a convincing 49-29 victory over Negri Sembilan in the final. It was the first time, Kuala Lumpur, represented by Titiwangsa Sports School, had become champions in netball in the carnival.

Kuala Lumpur coach Azeera Farhana said they were delighted to be the champions.

“We were rewarded for our diligent training programme throughout the year. This is an Under-16 age group competition. But all our players are either 13 or 14 only. We are certainly proud of the players’ committed performance in the competition,’’ said Azeera.

True leader: An Najwa (left) being congratulated by a teammate after scoring a point.

Enroute to winning the gold medal, the KL team had beaten Penang 27-11 in the quarter-finals and Malacca 26-16 in the semi-finals. Negri Sembilan, who were not among the fancied teams in the competition, overcame defending champions Selangor 24-20 in the quarter-finals and Perak 25-20 in the semi-finals.

Malacca won the bronze after a 30-26 win over Perak in the third and fourth play-off match.

KL Schools Sports Council deputy technical chairman for netball Tan Choo Zon said the competition was a platform for them to expose their players to gain experience.

“In this competition, they had the chance to learn from their counterparts from other states. Most of our players are eligible to play in the carnival next year,’’ said Choo Zon.

Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) netball coaches Choo Kon Lee and Puah Pei San were also present throughout the competition to identify promising players.

Kon Lee said the competition was keenly contested.

“The teams were well prepared. There were some new teams like Malacca who gave a good account of themselves. Negri Sembilan were also impressive. The progress showed that all the state sports school have training programmes.

“We have identified some tall players but we have to go through the official procedure for them to join BJSS,’’ said Kon Lee.