Malaysia rakes in two more golds to make it 11 on day six

HANOI - As expected, the national contingent continued to rake in the gold medals on day six of the 31st Sea Games in Hanoi, Vietnam on Friday.

After a brief pause in their chase for gold to make way for the official opening ceremony yesterday, when no events were held, the Malaysian camp added two more gold medals today through wushu.

The national exponents excelled en route to bagging two surprise gold medals as well as a silver in the taolu discipline on the first day of the wushu competition at the Cau Giay Gymnasium here.

The first gold came courtesy of Clement Ting Su Wei in the men’s changquan event before Tan Zhi Yan added a second in men’s taijiquan for Malaysia’s 11th gold medal.

Meanwhile, Calvin Lee Wai Leong chipped in with a silver in men’s nandao to wrap up an excellent day for the wushu camp.

At the Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Centre, Malaysian musclemen contributed one silver and one bronze in bodybuilding, which made a return after a lapse of nine years.

Azri Asmat Sefri won a surprise silver in the 55-kilogramme (kg) category while veteran Malvern Abdullah grabbed a bronze in the 65-kg category.

In kurash, the national team delivered a bronze medal on the final day of the competition through 18-year-old Mohamad Razlan Rozaidi in the men’s below 73-kg category at the Hoai Duc Gymnasium today.

That was the national kurash team’s third bronze medal at the biennial Games, thus exceeding their two-bronze target.

Today’s haul of two golds, two silvers and a bronze enabled Malaysia to stay in second spot in the medal standings with a total collection of 11 golds, five silvers and 13 bronzes.

Vietnam continued to lead the medal tally with a 24-11-19 haul while Indonesia are third with 7-9-2.

Meanwhile, four Malaysian silat exponents confirmed their semi-final spots in the tanding (combat) event after disposing of their respective opponents in the last eight at the Bac Tu Liem Gymnasium.

Three-time world champion Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari led the way for Malaysia when he made the semi-finals of the F class (70-75kg).

Joining him in the last four are Muhammad Khairi Adib Azhar in men's B class (50-55kg), Mohamad Hazim Amzad in men’s C class (55-60kg) and Ahmad Atif Irshad Ahmad Zahidi in men’s D class (60-65kg).

The focus tomorrow for Malaysia will be the Harimau Muda’s Group B clash against Singapore in men’s football at the Thien Truong Stadium in the Nam Dinh province, about 90 kilometres (km) from here at 4pm local time (5 pm Malaysian time).

Malaysia, who are trained by head coach Brad Maloney, can confirm a spot in the semi-finals with a win over Singapore, having earlier defeated Thailand 2-1 and Laos 3-1. - BERNAMA