By Tuah Wajihah Rufaidah
GOMBAK, 7 March 2015: Three siblings who were among the players who represented Mahallah Halimah, managed to lead the team to the final and became champion in the basketball tournament in the Inter-Mahallah Sports Carnival (ISC) 2015. The result was officially announced at the ISC closing ceremony here, yesterday.
The eldest of four siblings, Zalikha Zulkapli (25) who started playing basketball at the age of 13, has been selected as the team captain. She helped to recruit and train new players who have zero skills, within two weeks before the game.
Zalikha, from Johor Baharu said, “I used to play music before, but then my friends introduced basketball to me which makes me keen to play it until now”. She and her two sisters, Zahidah (23) and Zahrina (21), started polishing their skill in this particular game since they were in Maahad Al-Zaytun in Indera Bayu, Jawa Barat, Indonesia.
“We constantly played together as a team since we were in high school, so we know each other’s style of playing this game. In fact, there is strong chemistry between us that makes us a great team.” She expressed her gratitude for having sisters who always have her back since the beginning until now as she said, “At least we have each other to backup if something happens to one of us.”
Playing as a shooter in almost every tournament, Zalikha said that in this game, they have been focusing on shooting skill during the short training period that they have because they believe that it is essential for each of them to ace the skill in order to win the game.
“Basically, my sisters and I will try to get the ball and pass it to others who are waiting at the goal, after that they will try to shoot it and score for us,” Zalikha said.
Discipline, commitment and teamwork strengthened the team apart from good bonding between them.
The greatest competitor for the team was the team from Mahallah Asma’ because all members of that team have at least known the basic of the game as compared to them which most of them barely know how to play basketball.
In the last match, they encountered with Mahallah Asma’ in semi-final where the chances to win were very few because Asma’ has a strong defense and an expert shooter. Fortunately, in the last two second, Zahidah got free throw and scored another one auspicious point, which distinguished their marks, 16:15 hence qualifying them for the final. “Asma’ truly is a great competitor”, Zalikha added.
In the final, they successfully won 37:11 defeated the team from Mahallah Aminah and became the champion of the basketball competition in ISC 2015.
“The best players of this team are Zahidah Zulkapli who was in charge of the centre, Zahrina Zulkapli who has contributed plenty of scores for us, and Nurilyani Rosli, our strongest defender,” the captain proudly asserted.
Since this is her final year, final semester in IIUM, Zalikha entrusted her sister to sustain their team mates until they can master all basic skills in basketball and be prepared for the next ISC. “I do hope our team can win this game again in the future”, she expressed her expectation for the team.
Zalikha, who is also the member of Mustang, hoped that the ISC will be organised again in the future. She said, “For me ISC is a good platform for the students to enhance their skills before they go to the higher level of competition like MASUM which is expected to be in July this year at UTM”.***
Photos of Wajihah and Zalikha