HANGZHOU: Artistic gymnast Sharul Aimy Kamaru Hisam's decision to skip the World Championships paid off when he won the vault bronze medal in the Asian Games today.
Two perfect landings earned Sharul 14.466 points which saw him pip Olympic champion Shin Jae Hwan of South Korea for third placing.
The last time Malaysia won an artistic gymnastic medal was through Ng Shu Wai (silver in vault) at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Sharul said: "This is the moment that I have waited for so long, to win a medal for the country.
"I used to see Shu Wai perform and I learned his techniques. I finally managed to land perfectly and follow in Shu Wai's footsteps at the Asian Games.
"My mother will surely be very happy with my achievement this time. This medal is for my family who has always been supportive of me whenever I fail or stumble."
Sharul's strategy to pick a 5.2 difficulty level, and his perfect landings proved to be decisive in winning the bronze.
Japan's Wataru Tanigawa clinched the gold with 15.016 while Iran's Mahdi Olfati took silver with 14.783.
Sharul's coach, Ng Shu Liang, who is the elder brother of Shu Wai, said Sharul's bronze medal is a valuable one as it is not easy to upstage an Olympic champion like Jae Hwan.
"We came here and skipped the World Championship. I knew that Sharul can create history," said Shu Liang.
"I'm proud of his achievement, He's a very consistent athlete."
