National hammer throwers Jackie Wong and Grace Wong both performed well to contribute to Malaysia’s 12th and 13th gold medals in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.
Meanwhile, the national camp breathed a sigh of relief when Iskandar Alwi clinched the bronze medal in the pole vault event on the first day of the athletics events – his fourth in consecutive SEA Games – after other potential medal winners failed to deliver.
At the Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Centre, the national bodybuilding squad was in sterling form, winning two silver medals through Buda Anchah and Zmarul Adam Pulutan Abdullah, while Zainal Arif Zainal Ariffin and Uzair Mat Noor each contributed a bronze.
Another bronze was added to Malaysia’s medal haul yesterday through national fencer Joshua Koh I-Jie in the men’s individual epee event.
Wushu, however, only managed a bronze through Sydney Chin Sy Xuan in the women’s taijiquan event, the only medal won yesterday after the surprise double gold medal win on Friday.
Also, Khairi Adib Azhar has assured Malaysia of a silver medal at the least from silat when he advanced to the finals of the men’s B class (50-55kg) event.
The silat squad will have the opportunity to add more silver or gold medals to their collection with seven exponents featuring in various semi-finals today.
The finals will take place tomorrow. The losers of the semi-finals will automatically win bronze medals.
After yesterday’s haul of two gold, two silver and five bronze, Malaysia has dropped from second to fourth place in the overall medal tally, with a total of 13 gold, seven silver and 21 bronze.
Hosts Vietnam, who shot to the top of the standings on Wednesday, remain first overall with 36 gold, 28 silver and 27 bronze, leaving Thailand in second place with 14 gold, 13 silver and 30 bronze.
Indonesia, meanwhile, is in third place after accumulating 13 gold, 14 silver and six bronze medals.
Today, the national contingent will be focused on bodybuilding, where four-time world champion, Syarul Azman Mahen Abdullah, better known as “Mike”, is scheduled to take part in the Athletics Physique event and stands a good chance of winning a gold for Malaysia.
Another potential gold medal could come from the men’s table tennis squad who take on Thailand in the finals of the team event.
National shot putter Ziyad Zolkefli will also take to the field today, and the Paralympic athlete will definitely make the most of competing in the normal category in Hanoi.
Two other 2020 Tokyo Olympians, Khairul Anuar Mohamad and Syaqiera Mashayikh will take their shots at glory as the archery competition begins today.