Kota Kinabalu: There was no doubt football, both on and off the field grabbed the sporting headlines here in 2018. On the pitch, despite featuring mostly local players, the senior team started very well in the league and was unbeaten in the opening seven matches before suffering their first loss against UKM.
They never recovered from their early form after the defeat and eventually finished in sixth place with 28 points from seven wins, seven draws and six losses. They did not fare well in the FA Cup competition where they were eliminated by JDT in the second round despite a spirited display.
However, the Malaysia Cup was a different story with the team surprising everyone to come out top in their group stages comprising Super League teams Selangor, Pahang and PKNP to progress to the knockout stage. They continued their good form to reach the semi final at the expense of another Super League team, Kelantan, with the away goal rule after they lost the first leg 1-2 away and won the return home leg 1-0 in the quarterfinal.
They were eventually eliminated in the semi final, where they had a nightmare first leg tie with a 0-5 loss to eventual winner Perak before savaging some pride with a 2-2 draw at their home tie. Both the junior squads did well in the league to qualify for the knockout stage but failed to progress to the semi final, with the President Cup squad losing 2-3 on aggregates to Felda and Youth Cup losing 3-4 to Kedah.
However, the good performances by the players didn't go unnoticed by FAM as several players were called up for national duties. Senior team skipper Rawilson Batuil and Azizzan Nordin made their debut in the friendly against Cambodia. Juniors Evan Wesley Wenceslaus and Ariusdius Jais played for the national under-23 squad, while Gerald Gadit was featured in the under 19 squad and team mate Syahmil Nizam Igbal Khan was called up for training.
Off the pitch, the resignation of Tan Sri Musa Aman as president of Sabah Football Association (Safa) in May resulted in serious financial woes for the association. Players and office staff were owed months of salaries and despite former Safa Secretary General Alijus Sipil being elected as the new president in August, the situation did not improve. It got even worse when Alijus tendered his resignation in November.
With the exodus of players on the cards after several of them were approached by other teams in the Peninsula, Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony with the support from Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal stepped in as acting president in December to steady the ship and also settled all the outstand salaries. Jelius Ating was also retained as head coach with Henry Saimpon as the new manager next season. In other sports, Sabah Para athletes contributed one gold, two silver and one bronze for the country in the Asian Para Games in Indonesia with Eddy Edward delivered the gold in the long jump T44 T62/64 category.
Silver came from badminton player Didin Taresoh in the SS6 category and Jonathan Wong in the long jump T12 category while the bronze won by Doriah Poulus in Women's Shot Put F43/44,F62/64. The State also did well in the Para Sukma Games in Ipoh, Perak in November and the 19th Sukma Games in September The Para Games saw them winning 36 gold, 28 silver and 30 bronze medals to finish second overall behind defending champion Sarawak. Jacklon Ganding was also named the best male athlete in the biennial games with his record breaking wins in the T37 class's 100 meters (12.39 seconds) and 200m (23.74s) , and F3 class's long jump ( 5.96m). In the Sukma Games, although they failed to reach their initial 40-gold medal target, the 32 gold medals won by Sabah contingent can still considered a success.
They ended with additional 28 silver and 46 bronze medals for a total of 106 medals, only two short of their best ever 108 total as host at the Sabah Sukma Games back in 2002. State Youth and Sports Minister Frankie Poon who only took office in June, was full of praise for the athletes. "The final gold medal tally for Sabah was definitely beyond our expectation. This is an exciting time for Sabah athletes and the improvement by them at such a short time has opened the eyes of other states," he said.
Archer Eugenius Lo Foh Soon who won three gold medals in 70m, 50m and 30m individual compound events and one silver in group compound event with a new national record in the 30m, and two games records in the 70m and 50m also named the best male athletes in the Games. The year also saw state rugby team finally reclaimed the Agong's Cup title they last won two years ago by beating Kelantan in the final in November. It was also their fifth Cup titles. In golf, Ben Leong appeared in his first-ever World Cup of Golf, at the Metropolitan Golf Club in South Oakleigh, Australia, November after being chosen by Malaysia number one Gavin Kyle Green as his partner in the 28-nation tournament, where they ended in joint 22nd place.
In the amateur front, 16-year-old Charlayne Chong was chosen to represent the country in several international golf meets both overseas and locals. Tennis saw Christian Chin winning several international junior doubles titles with different partners and he ended the season by winning the men's singles as well as mixed title with Iranian Tara Saeed in the Port Dickson tournament, while Sabah Soft Tennis Association also making a name for themselves with the success of Lavender Christyen Chong who made history by reaching the quarterfinal of the 3rd World Soft Tennis Junior Championship in Korea.
Badminton was another racket sport that did well with Demond Anthony Samin taking the boys under-17 doubles title with Wan Muhammad Arif Shaharu Wan Mohd Junaidi at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Myanmar. Sabah Squash Association also ended the year on a high note after Duncan Lee and Jessica Keng took the boys and girls under 19 categories, while Amber Kristy Muyou clinched the girls' under 9 title at the 12th Redtone/ Kuala Lumpur international Junior Squash Open 2018 in November.
Meanwhile, cycling coach Loius Pang proved that with hard work and dedication it is able to produce calibre athletes with the emergence of track cyclists 16-year-old Waldron Chee and 18-year-old Arni Sanuddin under his care even though there are no track facilities here. Both cyclists made heads turned at the CIMB Foundation-Junior Cycling Malaysia (Track Series) in Negeri Sembilan. Waldron Chee Wen Chun was able to beat more senior riders to take gold in Point Race and Bronze in Individual Pursuit while Arni Sanuddin, with only six month of training under Pang won silver medal in Keirin.
The year also ended with the appointment of Mohd Asneh Mohd Noor as MSN Sabah new director replacing Terrance Pudin.
