Canoeist Muhammad Fakhrullah Mohd Rumaize described it as ‘a dream’ after being crowned as the Best Sportsman of the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) 2022 earlier this evening.
“It is a dream. My focus was totally on training and not on whether I can win this award,” said the 21-year-old Johorean.
“This is the result that I got after seven or eight years of training to win the gold medals. There were other athletes who did very well too, so I am overwhelmed. I am not crying for sure but I just did not expect it.”
Muhammad Fakhrullah raked in a total of nine gold medals through K2 500m, K2 100m, K1 200m, K2 200m, TBR 1000m, TBR 500m, Mixed TBR 500m, TBR 200m and also the Mixed TBR 200m.
“Canoeing is a less popular sport in Malaysia, so I hope that we can give more spotlight to it,” added Muhammad Fakhrullah, who will be over-aged at the next SUKMA in two years.
“My aim is to continue training no matter what and try to break all national records.
“I have to thank everyone in Johor, especially my parents, my teammates, and also my coaches. The Johor Canoeing Association has been behind me all this time and even sent me for training in Hungary. So I am really grateful for this opportunity.”
