Farah Ann Abdul Hadi – Photo Credit: Flickr 

National women’s artistic gymnastics head coach Ng Shu Wai told Farah Ann Abdul Hadi to get past the balance beam and she will be good to go. 

It will be less than a week to go before Farah Ann springs into action in her Olympics debut in Tokyo. Shu Wai admitted that the 27-year-old gymnast is still struggling to find her footing on the balance beam. “Farah Ann’s fate in the Tokyo Olympics hangs on the balance beam. I just hope that she won’t make a big mistake in that apparatus,” he said.

Apart from the balance beam, the athlete is also required to compete in the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise in the all-around event.

Shu Wai also feels that Farah Ann is like a cat on hot bricks to take on the challenge in the world’s biggest multi-sports event in Japan. “This is Farah Ann’s biggest event yet and what more, her first competitive event since the 2019 SEA Games in Manila, the Philippines. Her face tells a lot that she is a bundle of nerves, but I hope that she will quickly let her hair down and just have fun, plus there’ll be no spectators,” he added. 

Farah Ann is the first Malaysian female artistic gymnast to qualify for the Olympics after 20 years when she finished 16th out of 20 in the qualifying session of the individual all-around event at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

In doing so, Farah Ann became only the third Malaysian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, after Au Li Yen in 2000 (Sydney) and Shu Wai in 2004 (Athens).