Hanoi, Vietnam, May 14, 2022: Wushu athlete Mohammad Adi Salihin Roslan brought good news for Brunei Darussalam at the 31st Southeast Asian Games on Saturday – and then had bad news for his rivals.
Competing in his third SEA Games at the age of 21, Roslan won his second gold medal by scoring 9.71 points in the men’s nanquan discipline at the Cau Giay Gymnasium in downtown Hanoi City.
Harris Horatius finished second with 9.70 points to bag the silver for Indonesia and Vietnam’s Huu Nong Van took bronze with 9.69 in the 10-player field.
It was Brunei’s first gold medal of the 31st SEA Games and once again the Sultanate had to thank Roslan for the honour; at the 30th SEA Games in the Philippines in 2019, the same athlete had ended Brunei’s six-year wait for gold in the regional sports fest going back to 2013.
“This is my third SEA Games and now I have two gold medals,” said the full-time wushu practitioner – and then came the bad news for the rival nations.
“I am hoping to compete in seven or eight SEA Games so I aim to keep working hard and win more medals for Brunei.”
There was standing room only inside the Cau Giay Gym on Saturday morning as the locals embraced the wushu competition in their leafy district of the capital city and the teams received vociferous support from their own delegations in the stands.
There were six events on the card on Saturday morning and Roslan got down to business early – he was the seventh player to perform in the opening discipline of the day.
Dressed in a costume of deep red silk with shiny gold patterns, Roslan dazzled the judges and spectators alike with his crisp and explosive moves, his acrobatics and his remarkable balance and poise – and he needed to be on top form as the top six athletes were separated by only 0.04 points.
After the medal ceremony, the Brunei hero said he took up the sport of wushu at just six years old after watching movies starring Jet Li, and that he had been training full-time since he was 11.
When asked why the sport drew such a large crowd, he replied: “People like the colours and the movement – and there are many different events to appreciate. Everyone likes wushu because it’s very nice to watch.”
Regarding his second gold medal of his SEA Games career, Roslan added: “I didn’t think about winning the gold medal. All I wanted was to produce my best performance. This is the first gold medal of the SEA Games for Brunei here in Vietnam and I really appreciate this moment.”
