Odds against Malaysian taekwondo exponents in Laos Games

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia face the prospect of not returning home with a single gold medal in taekwondo for the first time in SEA Games history if the performances of their exponents in the just concluded World Champion­ships in Copenhagen are anything to go by.

Coach R. Dhanaraj brought four of his most experienced fighters to Denmark but none of them made it past the early rounds. And their lack of competitions this year stood out like a sore thumb.

Beijing Olympian Elaine Teo, who was the gold medallist in the previous SEA Games in Korat in 2007, was a first-round casualty, losing 2-3 to Mexican Janet Alegria in the women’s flyweight category.

Mohd Afifudin Omar Sidek also lost his first bout against Australian Shkara Hayden (2-4) in the men’s featherweight division.

Rusfredy Petrus won his opening contest in the men’s flyweight division against Greek Panagiotidis Charalampos on a referee’s decision after both were tied at 4-4.

However, the 2005 Manila SEA Games gold medallist’s joy was shortlived as he fell 4-5 to Jordanian Abual­­bawati Husan in the second round.

Ryan Chong failed to reach the last 16 in the men’s bantamweight category after a 3-4 loss to Russian Frank Dmitry. Ryan, a 2007 SEA Games silver medallist, beat Cuban Batista Nunez 3-2 in a first-round bout.

The elite fighters under Dhanaraj are starved of international action this year because of the uncertainties over the status of the national association which had been de-registered.

In the previous two SEA Games, Malaysia returned with two gold medals on both occasions. But it will be tough to match the effort in Laos because of a limit on entries imposed by the organisers.

“There are 16 gold medals at stake in sparring events but we can only have a team of five men and five women. The exponents will have a training stint in South Korea and we will get a better picture of our strength for the SEA Games then,” said Dhanaraj.

Poomsae (non-sparring) competitions offering five gold medals will make their debut in the Vientiane Games in December.

Thailand secured a silver and three bronze medals to mark their best-ever outing at the world meet and they will be the ones to beat in Laos.