medals...

the medals are arranged according to years.upper-most row(2006),2nd row(2007),3rd row(2008),4th row(2009) and 5th row(2010).if you hate the fact that argentina's currently a team to be afraid of in the world cup,then just IGNORE my jersey.hahahaa...

it started out as nothing.no target.no principles.no interests.but as time passes by,it wasn't just a nothing.it was something to be proud of.and each one of it has a different story behind it.and this post is going to be a medium where all the secrets would unravel.

FORM 1

school's cross-country (gold medal)

this is the time where we.the 1st formers, were all new.the track involved going through the rubber estate.it was such a fun experience.even got my shoe stuck in a puddle of mud.but i was inspired by my batch's 'penghulu' at the time,Mohamed Farhan Hilman bin Mahazir.at the beginning,i saw he was kind of in the lead.that really got my adrenaline pumping.i really badly wanted to beat him.didn't took me a long time before i managed to overtake him.and from there on i managed to maintain the lead until the end.

school's 4x4oom (bronze medal)

this was during the school's sports day.i didn't perform well in the previous 400m and 800m where i got 4th and 5th place respectively.i guess due to the tiredness i've experienced,my team got the bronze instead of the silver or even the gold.

FORM 2

school's cross-country (silver medal)

this time,the track revolves around the nearby neighbourhood.and the track is the road.the competition grew bigger as this time,i was in class 2,form 3s and form 2s.in the laxmana house,i was kind of the hopes and dreams of the house to get a placing.and as expected,i performed well even against the 3rd formers.i got a 2nd behind Nazrin bin Umar who would eventually become my dormmate in 2009,an awesome basketballer and such an excellent student.

district's cross-country (bronze medal)

wow.my first time outside the school.it was kind of an awesome experience.well,at least for me.didn't do quite good though.the team expected me to perform,but i guess my mentality wasn't at it's peak.got a measly 55th place.but fortunately,the points we gained as a team got us the 3rd place for team.

open taekwondo sparring competition (bronze medal)

this wasn't such a proud winning.started off in the quarter-finals.and at that time,i beat a fat kid.hahaha.went through to the semis and lost.and that's how i got the bronze medal.quite stupid,eyh?

FORM 3

school's cross-country (silver medal)

this was a very valuable lesson to me.DON'T EAT HEAVY FOOD BEFORE AN EVENT!i remembered eating fried mee at the dining hall.there wasn't much competition frankly.it was still class 2,3rd formers and 2nd formers.but somehow,during the final 50m,there was this sharp pain at the side of my stomach.close behind me was Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz.he took advantage of the problem i was facing and got the gold medal.and me?the moment haunted me for quite a long time.

school's 400m hurdles (bronze medal)

first ever time entering the hurdles event.got an introduction of the event during the end of 2007.so it was now or never.i volunteered to do it.and alhamdulillah,got a bronze medal.it was such a good feeling to managed a placing in an event i just entered.from there on,my love for this event grew.

school's 1500m (bronze medal)

i had to overcome the tiredness from the 400m hurdles to prepare for this event.i was kind of setting high hopes for this event because the previous year i managed a 5th against the 3rd formers at that time and a formmate.so with the seniors gone,i thought it was time for me to shine.i followed the pack and tried to maintain my speed.i went a little further in the final 2 rounds and maintained 2nd.during the last 100m,i tried my best to catch up with the leader at the time.but i guess he picked up enough distance to prevent the rest of us from beating him.then i though,2nd was enough.but just a meter or 2 before i finished,Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz crushed my hopes and dashed past me for a silver.when i finished,i fell down on my knees and held my head in frustration.it was that scene that everyone remembered of me for the following years.quite embarrasing though.

school's 800m (silver medal)

the laxmana house was counting on me because during the sukantara's 800m,i managed to get the best time.during the event,everything went quite smoothly.i wasn't sure if it was me or Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi who held on to the lead before the final 100m.but Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz definitely put another frown on my face.during the final 100m,he dashed past the rest of us for a gold and left me with a silver while Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi got the bronze.this was the 3rd time i had to settle behind Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz.

district's 1500m (7th?)

going for another outing at the paroi stadium.this time,it was the 1500m event.Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz and i represented SDAR for the under-15 event.we managed top of our group during the preliminary round and went on to the final.in the final,i managed a measly 7th place while Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz did the team proud by getting a bronze.however,i still got a medal as the medals were given to the 8 top finishers.

district's 800m (bronze)

Muhammad Khairi Daniel gave his place to Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi for the 800m event as he wanted to focus on the 4x4oom relay event.the preliminary round was held at night.what a wonderful feeling.i managed to get 1st in my group while Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi managed a 2nd behind the person who would be crowned the winner of both the district's and state's 800m event.but his time was worrying as eventhough he finished 2nd in his group,but he was far away from the 800m juggernaut.but i was hoping the best for him to make it through with me in the finals.the next day,we checked the times and i was 2nd best behind the juggernaut.Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi didn't though.he managed 9th best and was so close from reaching the finals.but we can't turn back time.so,he gave me some advice and encouragement before i went for a warm-up.the event soon started.and i managed a bronze medal.i was actually hoping to challenge the juggernaut as my time was 2nd best in the preliminary rounds.but i just had to settle with 3rd best.

FORM4

school's cross-country (gold medal)

this time,the person who beat me during 2007,Nazrin bin Umar became my dormmate.and i changed houses and entered the temenggung house.everyone were expecting for Nazrin bin Umar and i to give our best.other houses were afraid of us.we even have some other promising athletes who could boost our points.the day came.almost everyone from the temenggung house came up to me and wished me all the best.and this time,i had a new challenger.Muhammad Syukur bin Fabil.a week before the event,he always came to me and asked advice for the event.and he really trained hard for it.it was a shock for everybody in the end.he managed a silver while Muhammad Nazrin bin Umar got 10th place.even Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz from the temenggung line-up got 11th place.i went up to the expectation.i got the gold medal and was paraded to the podium during the prize giving ceremony.

district's cross-country (13th place)

the district's cross-country competition was held a few days after i won the gold.so,we were pretty much all warmed-up.it was nice to see the new line-up of athletes.the event went on as usual.the indians sprinting at the beginning.it was hard to catch up with them,but i just managed t do that.i held on to 3rd place.but as the journey reached half-way,i kind of slowed a bit.the others gained enough speed just to get past me.in the end,i only managed 13th place.it seems that 10 people made it past me.but medals were for the top 15 finishers and that was an improvement and achievement for me.

school's 400m hurdles (silver medal)

this was going to be harder.i was a 4th former and te 5th formers entering the event were promising athletes.they were mostly sprinters.but were they able to take on the challenge of a long sprint and hurdles?the answer was about to unravel by itself.i got the middle lane.so it wasn't much pressure for me.during the last 200m,i managed to get past the others.and during the last 100m,there were just 2 fivers who were standing in my way for the gold medal.one of them was just a meter or two in front while i was fighting with the other one just beside me.during the last hurdle,the fiver beside me hit his hurdle and slowed down.when the hurdle went down,it brough down my hurdle along.so,there was no point for me to jump over thin air.i sprinted the remaining meters and got silver.there were both pride and guilt as i celebrated the 2nd place.but there was nothing else to do.even the teachers were bedazzled.

school's 4x400m (bronze medal)

after a disappointing 4th in the 800m,a final minute pull-out from the 1500m,and a measly 4th in the 400m due to the fact that i didn't wear spikes and it was raining,i had to make it up with a result in the 4x400m.it was clear that the favourites were the syahbandar house and my old house,laxmana were a team to look out.but we just had to put that behind and think of what we had.i was the 1st runner,and i did pretty good.but during the last 100m,this one gut from the syahbandar house managed to get past me by a meter.it was so close,but it was still impressive for the whole team.everything went well until the baton reached the 3rd runner.during his last 100m,he went down due to muscle cramp.but he managed to pass the baton to the last runner,Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz.he came from behind to get a 3rd place.

district's 400m hurdles (silver medal)

i didn't manage to represent SDAR for the 800m and 1500m events like the previous year.but still,i managed to do so in the 400m hurdles event.during the preliminary rounds,i managed a promising 1st place in my group eventhough i hit the last hurdle and nearly fell down.my other teammate performed well and got 1st too.overall,my teammate got 1st for best time while i was 2nd best.during the final,my teammate pulled out of the event to focus on his relay team that was going to run shortly after my event.he was replaced with someone who wasn't really cut out for the event.so,i was in high hopes to finally win a gold in the district level as i had the best time among the final participants.i guess i didn't warmed up well as i got a silver.the indian dude whose time was just a bit slower than mine in the preliminary rounds got the best of me and managed to keep a distance of a meter or two in front of me during the last curve.

FORM 5

school's cross-country (gold medal)

this year,i came back to my old house,laxmana.everyone was delighted as the class 1 for the laxmana house lack of long-distance athletes.the morality of the team increased due to my presence.i didn't really practice before the big event.it was more of a daily simple jog until the event.on the day of the even,just right after subuh,i shouted "budak lax!sume masuk toilet n buang aya' bsar skrg gak!" hahahah.there you go for a war cry.before the race,as usual everyone came to me and wished for the best.it was an awesome experience.Muhammad Syukur bin Fabil kind of puked just behind me after reaching the 4th checkpoint.during the rest of the journey,i shouted to him to cool down and to not push himself.it was both to ensure his health and help my mentality in the event.in the end,i climbed the so-called steep runway to the finishing line.and as expected,i got my gold medal once again.it was quite a surprise to see Muhammad Syukur bin Fabil come a minute later in 2nd.but the celebrations went on as the winner froom class 2 was from laxmana and the runner-up and 2nd runner-up from class 3 were also from the laxmana house.but overall,laxmana only got 3rd behind syahbandar,the winner and temenggung.bendahara had to settle with 4th and last.but note to self.i was wearing my light green sports shoes at the time ;)

school's 400m hurdles (bronze medal)

it was definitely a heart-breaker.i was fully confident that i would get a gold medal.i kept on telling myself and my deskmates that i was going to win the gold medal.but it turns out,i failed to get it.i didn't warmed-up like the way i warmed-up for events in the previous years.and i had little preparation on the hurdles.the event started with a line-up of promising athletes.and starngely enough,i wasn't running fast enough.i guess i was too focused on the hurdles that i forgot to speed up.as a result,i was pretty much behind 2 other athletes during the final 100m.and as hard as i tried to get the lead,it was pretty much impossible as they had made a big gap between me and them.it was such a disappointment as my juniors both got 1st place in class 2 and class 3.i wore blue spikes at the time.

school's 800m (silver medal)

after the hurdles,i tried my best to recover before my next events which were the 800m and 1500m events.it was quite a hard decision as the 1500m event was just right after the 800m event.i wanted both,but i know i can only manage one.the competition for the 1500m wasn't hard.but i guess it was the presence of Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi in the 800m event that got my adrenaline all pumping.so,i took the decision to run in the 800m event.this time,i wore my new PINK shoes!those pair of shoes really got everyone's attention.as the event started,Khairul Nizam bin Badrul Khairi got the lead while i followed closely just right behind him.i admired his passion and spirit.he shouted during the run in every breath that he took.it was such an inspiring situation.as the pack came to the last corner,i picked up speed and tried to catch up with him.at the 50m mark,i managed to get past him but only to get my hopes of a gold medal shattered when Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz beat us at the same time.in conclusion,it was a repeat of the 2008's 800m when the winners were exactly the same as that year.but unfortunately,laxmana had to accept the fact that they had no chance in the 1500m event as i pulled out due to tiredness.the medal was like the medal i got for the 400m hurdles.it looked like a shuriken.even can be used as one.but i exchanged it with a friend of mine for her silver medal as well.frankly typing,her medal was astounding.it was such an honour to receive the medal from her.and it kind of made me guilty as i gave her a not so nice medal.a medal that could be used as a weapon.hahahaha.

open ekiden run (finisher medal)

the reason why i entered this event was both to fulfill my interest in running and to contribute to my SDAR's japanese club.the run was organised by the embassy of japan in malaysia and was held in putrajaya.it was also a time when i really hoped for some of my best friends to come.Liyana Syahirah binti Muhamad Yusof,Nor Adilah binti Abdul Rahman,Amanda Khalida binti Che Kamarul Wzaman and Ilyana binti Yuzzini from STF.sadly,they can't come due to the fact that their PK1 wouldn't let them.but it was OK.i admired their determination to enter.the ekiden run was actually a relay run.5 runners.each running 3km which totals up the whole journey to 15km.to tell you the truth,my team was kind of a little bit selfish.the line-up was...

myself,Mohamad Faisal Imran bin Kamarizan

1st in cross-country,2nd in 800m and 3rd in 400m hurdles...

Muhammad Syukur bin Fabil

2nd in cross-country...

Bakhtiar bin Baharu

3rd in cross-country,2nd in both 110m hurdles and 1500...

Muhammad Khairi Daniel bin Abdul Aziz

5th in cross-country,1st in 400m and 800m...

Ammar bin Shamsuddin

1st in 1500m...

and to top it up,all of us are learning japanese.so,that means we're a strong team and have a strong connection with the japanese,i guess.hahaha.sensei mariana expected us to win at least the top 5 placings.but sadly,we only managed 17th overall.it was OK.there were teams from all over malaysia.to get 17th was considered a proud achievement.but the good thing about the run is that everyone who manages to finish the run are given a finisher medal.so,everyone came back with a medal.even the BIG ones.hahaha...

but before the run started,we had to wait in turns according to categories.the junior categories were the last.while waiting,it turns out that the SSP girls behind me were gossipping about my PINK shoes.that can't be right.what's so wrong about it?and one of them just happened to add me on facebook just a few days before the ekiden run.heh.coincidence?

in conclusion,i have made an impressive collection of medals throughout my 5 years in SDAR.and i doubt that i can enter any competitions after this as SPM is getting closer.but to get 20 medals in 5 years is just such a wonderful feeling.eventhough most of it are just from the school and district levels,it's something that i can treasure for the rest of my life.

i can see myself somewhere in the future.i'm in a comfortable house playing around with my grandchildren.my children are all successful.and somehow,my grandchildren stumbled upon these medals in a box.by that time,i can tell them lots of stories about my past.and who knows?it might inspire them to get more than what i've achieved.

but all in all,this should be enough for me.for now,10A+ are my next collection.amin~