Farah Ann Abdul Hadi of Malaysia in action during the floor exercise at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Tokyo, Japan July 25, 2021. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — National gymnastics darling, Farah Ann Abdul Hadi is taking a step back from competitive gymnastics for the time being to focus on her recovery.
The 27-year-old said she is planning and preparing for her next competition by not straining herself too much in order to come back stronger in 2022.
“I haven’t fully recovered from the strenuous Tokyo Olympics, and I am planning to slowly start training at the National Sports Council to prepare for next year,” she said when met recently.
Farah Ann, who made her Olympics debut, lost the chance to advance to the women’s all-round event after ending in 68th place out of 85 competitors, collecting 48.565 points overall at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo.
She collected 11.600 points on the uneven bars, 11.566 points on the balance beam and floor exercise discipline (12.233 points) before completing the vault with 13.116 points and failed to qualify for the finals of the all-round event.
The Selangor-born gymnast also cited the ongoing pandemic as a reason for not participating in any competitions until the end of this year.
The 2019 SEA Games gold medalist added that she was also unsure on which competition she will be joining next year.
“I am not sure if I’ll be competing in the SEA Games or not. But I believe the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games will most probably be held next year,” she said.
The 31st SEA Games scheduled to be held from Nov 21 to Dec 2 in Hanoi has been postponed to next year and probably will be held in May, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom is slated to be held from July 28-Aug 8 while the next Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, from Sept 10-25. — Bernama