Poor Showing In Athletics Affect Malaysia's Gold Medal Tally

From Zulhilmi Supaat ', TEXTFONT, 'Verdana, Arial, Helvetica', TEXTSIZE, '1', WIDTH, 75)" onmouseout="nd()">VIENTIANE, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's hope of seeing athletics to contribute more gold medals after the aquatic events ended Monday, dissipated following the athletes' poor showing in the finals of four athletic events.

After Malaysia won 15 gold medals in aquatics, the national contingent's focus of hope was set on athletics as the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) itself had set a target of eight golds at the Laos SEA Games.

Unfortunately, in the four finals Monday, Malaysia won only three silver medals and one bronze.

The biggest disappointment was in the men's 4x400m event where Malaysia failed to defend the gold they won in Korat, Thailand two years ago.

Two of Malaysia's gold medals Monday came from sensational swimmer Daniel Bego in the 200m men's freestyle and 200m butterfly stroke.

Another gold was contributed by the pair of Leong Mun Yee and Ng Yan Yee in the women's diving event (3m).

However, the excitement today was centred on the Main Stadium, Laos National Sports Complex, where Malaysia beat hosts Laos 3-1 to advance into the final of the men's football competition.

Although this competition offered only one gold medal, the Malaysian Under-23 squad coached by K.Rajagobal have a mission to end a 20-year gold drought after Malaysia last won gold at the Kuala Lumpur Games in 1989.

At the end of the sixth day of this biennial games that began on Dec 9, Malaysia collected three more gold medals, five silver and eight bronze, bringing the total tally so far to 22 gold, 27 silver and 35 bronze, to remain in fourth spot in the table.

Thailand still lead with 42 gold, 49 silver and 48 bronze, followed by Vietnam (32, 31, 38) and Singapore (28, 19, 25).

Hosts Laos (15, 7, 37) are in seventh spot behind Indonesia and the Philippines.

Tuesday, Malaysian athlete Mohd Robbani Hasan will compete in the 110m hurdles and Teoh Boon Lim in the men's 20km walk, while Diana Bong in the nanguan final of the wushu competition.

The badminton men's singles quarter-finals will also take place Tuesday.

-- BERNAMA