DAING SULAIMAN IS THE NATIONAL OVERALL CHAMPION POPIC 2022

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Daing Sulaiman

KUANTAN, 11 September – Terengganu paddler, Daing Sulaiman Daing Suhaimi was crowned overall champion of the men’s national category TK1 Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge 2022 (POPIC 2022) at Pantai Teluk Cempedak here on Sunday.

Even better, Daing Sulaiman ended POPIC 2022 – the first international canoe tournament held in Pahang by emerging as the champion of Stage 5 involving a 20-kilometer race course on the famous resort beach.

“Thank God for today’s victory, I really didn’t expect to win the overall title in this category (Men’s TK1 National) because the competition has been fierce since the Stage 1 race.

“I only aim for the top three positions’ because I am aware that there are several other favourite participants, especially Adib (Kamaruzrizan) and Freddy (Anggang). This may be my fortune to emerge champion,” he said.

As the overall champion, Daing Sulaiman who won the Stage 4 race at Pantai Cherating here on Saturday brought a total cash prize of RM3,500 in addition to winning RM800 as the stage winner.

For the men’s TK2 national category, the experienced pairing representing Pahang, Ahmad Azfaruddin Lukman-Imam Sujadi Satta proved their prowess when they emerged as overall champions, thus bagging a cash prize of RM5,000.

“Thank God all our hard work for five days ended with this special success. Although there were a few problems at the beginning of today’s race, we were still able to catch up with the other participants to win,” explained Imam Sujadi.

In addition to topping Stage 5, Azfaruddin-Imam Sujadi also performed brilliantly when they won Stages 1, 2 and 4 after their victory at Stage 3 was revoked due to a penalty for not following the correct route.

For the women’s TK2 national category, sisters pair from Terengganu, Norazita-Nursaibah Syahida Ibrahim grabbed the overall champion title after they swept clean all five stages.

Norazita-Nursaibah Syahida were clearly in a class of their own to take home RM5,000 as overall champions and also collected a cash prize of RM7,500 as a result of their success in winning five stages of the race.

For the men’s and women’s inter-varsity categories, the students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UNISZA), Tuan Muhamad Hidzam Tuan Dolah-Mohd Azman Ibrahim and the pairing of Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Nur Aleya Nafisha Norhanafi-Alya Athirah Shaharaziz won respectively.

As the overall champion of the category involving a 6-kilometer route in all five stages, Tuan Muhamad Hidzam-Mohd Azman and Nur Aleya Nafisha-Alya Athirah each received a cash prize of RM4,000.

The highlight of the POPIC 2022 international category saw former world champions from South Africa, Dawid Mocke and Danielle McKenzie (New Zealand) confirm their respective championships in the men’s and women’s competitions.

Appearing as the preferred paddlers due to their reputation as former world champions, Mocke, winner of four stages and McKenzie, winner of five stages of the race, each grabbed a cash prize of RM15,000 after emerging as overall champions.

 

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