Ong Wei Xiang (centre), winner of the Men's University category, is congratulated by friends.
KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) were the only university able to challenge the dominance of overall defending champions Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) in the first leg of the Malakoff University Duathlon Series (MUDS) in Sungai Besi.
UTM took the first and second places in the men's university category last Saturday.
UTM's Ong Wei Xiang powered to first place in the men's university category of the multi sport event, which combines running and cycling, in 49:8s while teammate Gan Shih Chau was the runner-up, finishing less than a minute behind.
Third place went to UPNM's Chan Jun Shen who posted a time of 50:8s in the 3.5km bike, 11km run and 3.5km bike race.
"I wanted to test myself here and it is definitely a good result for me and the team here today.
"I hope this result will help us capture the overall title this year," said Ong, a final year civil engineering student at UTM.
"It won't be easy to beat them (UPNM) to the title but we will definitely give it our best shot over the next two legs," added Ong.
UPNM, however, had no difficulty wrapping up wins in the rest of the university categories, taking the top three spots in the women's individual, men's team relay and mixed relay.
The men's open title went to Shahrul Ambri Mohd Noor who finished in 58:47s while Muhammad Iskandar (1:01:39s) took second place. Third place went to disabled runner Mohd Sabki Arifin who finished in 1:03:48s.
"I had the confidence that I would be able to win, coming into the race but am a little disappointed with my time," said Shahrul Ambri.
"Being just after the Raya holidays, I have not been able to put in as much training as I would have liked but I will definitely be looking to do better in the next leg," added the 39-year-old.
The women's open title went to 29-year-old Nor Juliana Ali (1:07:36s), while second and third places went to Chung Hsing Ling (1:07:36s) and Junaida Emylia Rosly (1:16:28s) respectively.
Title sponsor Malakoff , which is supporting the event for the fifth year running, is offering a total of RM25,000 cash incentives this year to encourage the participation of university athletes.
The next leg of MUDS will be held at Universiti Putra Malaysia on Oct 1 and the final leg at Universiti Malaya on Oct 15.
RESULTS -- Men's university: 1 Ong Wei Xiang 49:08s (UTM), 2 Gan Shih Chau 50.03s (UTM), 3 Chan Jun Shen, (UPNM)).
Women's university: 1 Nurasyikin Masri 1:09:25s (UPNM), 2 Noor Fitrah Md Saad 1:15:41s (UPNM), 3 Zurul Afinaz Zamani 1:19:02 (UPNM).
Men's relay: 1 UPNM Team 1 35:00s,2 UPNM Team 2 48:00, 3 UPNM Team 4 48:22s.
Mixed relay: 1UPNM Team-3 53:34s, 2 UPNM Team-1 53:50s,3 UPNM Team-2 56:39s.
Men's open: 1 Shahrul Ambri Mohd Noor 58:47s, 2 Muhammad Iskandar 1:01:39s, 3 Mohd Sabki Arifin 1:03.48s.
Women's open: 1 Nor Juliana Ali 1:07:36s, 2 Chung Hsing Ling 1:07:44s, Junaida Emylia Rosly 1:16:28s.
2011/09/28
By Fadhli Ishak
fadhli@nstp.com.my
Original Article Here
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