Malaysia set 10-gold target for World Armwrestling Championships 2023
25 Sep 2023 04:58pm
Mohd Zil Fadli
MYARM president Zil Fadli said the national team, regarded as one of Asia's superpowers, could achieve the target thanks to the presence of 2019 World Armwrestling Championship winner Joffrey Jolly and the championships being held on home ground.
"Although we will face stiff challenges from other countries, we have the advantage of competing at home and in front of our own fans.
"We also have Joffrey, the 2019 world champion, and world runner-up Safuan Asif... in the junior category, we have Iryan Syauqi Azhar, who is the gold medallist at the 2022 Asian Championships," he told a media conference that was also attended by International Federation of Armwrestling (IFA) president Anders Axklo here today.
Zil said 30 countries, comprising over 500 athletes will be competing in the tournament, which Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh will officially open on Thursday.
He said 56 national arm wrestlers will compete this time in 30 categories and added that Malaysia last hosted the World Armwrestling Championships in 2015, also in Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, Zil said MYARM are striving to apply to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and National Sports Council (NSC) to include the sport of arm wrestling in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) from next year.
He said the country should capitalise on the advantages of arm wrestling athletes who have the potential to become the biggest medal contributors in international meets. - BERNAMA
