KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — National men’s gymnast Muhammad Sharul Aimy Mohd Kamaru Hisam will get a chance to train under the tutelage of Japan’s three-time Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura to prepare for his debut in the world’s biggest multi-sports event in Paris next year.
Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) vice president Francis Lau said they are in the midst of final discussions with Uchimura to facilitate Sharul Aimy’s training session in Japan, scheduled to commence next month.
“Uchimura is arguably one of the best gymnasts in the world. If all goes according to plan, Sharul will receive training at Uchimura’s gymnasium in Japan.
“Sharul is expected to train for six weeks in Japan starting early next year before he goes to compete in the 2024 World Cup Series in Cairo, Egypt (February 15 to February 18), which is part of the 2024 Olympic Games qualification,” he said.
Lau was speaking to Bernama after the Sports Working Committee Meeting (JKK) with the National Sports Council (NSC) at Bukit Jalil today.
Uchimura, better known as ‘King Kohei’, boasted an impressive record of seven Olympic medals, including back-to-back men’s all-around gold in London 2012 and Rio 2016 and contributing to Japan’s men’s team event gold in Rio 2016.
In the meantime, Lau said Sharul needs to be the top two ranked gymnasts on each apparatus across all four World Cup series he is expected to participate to make the cut to Paris 2024.
Apart from the meet in Cairo, the 22-year-old gymnast is slated to take part in three other 2024 World Cup Series: in Cottbus, Germany (February 22 to February 24), followed by Baku, Azerbaijan (March 7 to March 10), and Doha, Qatar (April 17 to April 20).
Meanwhile, MGF honorary secretary Teh Lah Hoong said they initially intended to bring along two other gymnasts — Luqman Al-Hafiz Zulfa dan Ng Chun Chen — to follow Sharul to train in Japan, but budget constraints hindered their participation.
“The National Sports Council only approved Sharul Aimy based on the justification of winning the medal in the Asian Games recently,” she said.
On September 29, Sharul ended the country's 17-year medal drought in the sport after successfully winning bronze in the men's vault at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
— Bernama
