Kuala lumpur: Athletics was the highlight of the first day of competition at the 2026 Malaysia Games (SUKMA). National sprinter Danish Iftikhar Muhammad Roslee, representing Johor, defended his men's 100 metre (m) gold with a season best time of 10.27 seconds (s), while Izzatul Musfirah Ahmad Kamal Azira of Terengganu was crowned the women's 100 m champion with a time of 11.73 s.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Terengganu athletes shone as Mohamad Armin Zahryl Abd Latif defended his men's 110 m hurdles gold by setting a new SUKMA record time of 13.66 s, surpassing Muhammad Hazriq Cik Mat Kilau of Johor's record time of 13.78 s set earlier that morning. The previous SUKMA record time for the event, 14.10 s, was set 18 years ago by former national champion Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian, who represented Sabah in 2008 in Terengganu.
Sabah secured two gold medals with shot putter Earl Isaac Mitzler Fredolin's 15.11 m throw and Samantha Mae Godfrey Binting clearing a height of 3.45 m in the women's pole vault. Meanwhile, discus thrower Sasha Alyssa Philip of Selangor won the gold with a personal best throw of 44.93 m. Kelantan's Alia Batrisya Nasaruddin won the women's long jump with a jump of 5.88 m. T Jayvind of Negeri Sembilan won the men's 10,000 m with a time of 32 minutes 44.31 s, and Kok Hui Ying of the Federal Territories won the women's 10,000 m with a time of 55:55.06 s.
Selangor achieved success in pencak silat, securing two gold medals through Muhammad Aliff Damien Mohd Redzuan in the men's solo with 9.925 points and Izzah Najwa Norwanizam in the women's solo with 9.920 points. Sabah's Manjaseerah Manuil, Sherlenna Abdullah, and Fiffy Ferlisa Rien won the women's group event, and Perak's Puteri Zharifah Shah Nazira won the women's creative solo with 9.910 points.
In weightlifting, Perak's Qistina Qharisya Suffia Mohd Muzani won the gold in the women's 48 kilogramme (kg) category with a total lift of 154 kg, achieving 72 kg in the snatch and 82 kg in the clean and jerk. In judo, Danish Mirza Nasrin of Pahang claimed the men's +90kg category gold, while Leng Ko Jia of Sarawak won the women's -70kg gold.
At the end of the first day of competition, Selangor leads the medal tally with 11 gold, nine silver, and eight bronze medals, followed by Terengganu with 10 gold, 15 silver, and six bronze medals, and the Federal Territories with seven gold, nine silver, and seven bronze medals.