kuala lumpur: Men’s national gymnast, Mohamed Sharul Emi Kamaru Hassam, will get the opportunity to train under the tutelage of three-time Japanese Olympic champion, Kohei Uchimura, to prepare for his debut in the world’s largest multi-sport 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 Sharol Aimee’s training session in Japan, scheduled to begin next month.
“Uchimura is arguably one of the best gymnasts in the world. If all goes according to plan, Sharol Aimee will be training at the Uchimura Gym in Japan.
“Sharoll Aimee is expected to train for six weeks in Japan starting early next year before he goes on to compete in the 2024 World Cup tournament in Cairo, Egypt (15-18 February), which is part of the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers.” He told Bernama when he met after the Sports Action Committee (JKK) meeting with the National Sports Council (NSC) in Bukit Jalil here today.
Uchimura, otherwise known as “King Kohei,” boasts an impressive record of seven Olympic medals, including consecutive men’s all-around gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, along with contributing to Japan’s men’s team gold at Rio 2016.
Meanwhile, Francis said Charol Aime needs to be the top-ranked gymnast on each apparatus in all four World Cup series he is expected to compete in in order to reach Paris 2024.
Apart from the meet in Cairo, the 22-year-old gymnast is scheduled to take part in three more tournaments for the 2024 World Cup namely Cottbus, Germany (February 22-24) followed by Baku, Azerbaijan (March 7-10) and Doha, Qatar (17 -April 20).
Meanwhile, MGF honorary secretary Dr Teh Lah Hong said they had initially intended to bring two other gymnasts – Lokman Al-Hafiz Zalfa Dan Ng Chun Chin – to follow Sharol Aimee to train in Japan but budget constraints hampered their participation.
“The National Sports Council only approved Sharul Amy based on the justification that he won a medal in the Asian Games recently,” she said.
On September 29, Charol Aime ended the country’s 17-year drought in the sport after successfully winning the bronze medal in the men’s vault at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.-Bernama