The medallists today were Sharul Aimy (pommel horse), Ally Hamuda Abdullah (rings), Ng Chun Chen (parallel bars) and Luqman Al Hafiz Zulfa (horizontal bars).
The national camp’s hopes of a surprise gold were dashed when Sharul finished fourth in the vault event after alleging that his concentration was affected by “distractions” from doping officials at the competition venue.
However, national coach Ng Shu Liang said he was proud of their achievement today, adding that it was a positive sign after the various challenges they had undergone ahead of the biennial Games, including the omission of Teoh Chun Feng due to an injury.
“I’m very happy for the boys. Four of them made the finals and all of them got to bring back a medal to Malaysia. We never expected them to win medals in the individual events because of the presence of top gymnasts like Carlos Yulo of the Philippines and other more experienced gymnasts from Vietnam.
“I feel that our time will come in future editions of the SEA Games,” he told reporters.
According to him, the gap between the national gymnasts and those from Vietnam and the Philippines is not that big and with more international exposure, Malaysia can dominate the sport in the region.
“They are all young and not used to competing on the international stage, except for Sharul. For example, SEA Games debutant Ally only joined the team five months ago, so we have two new gymnasts in him and Syakir Aiman Subri … they are the next generation,” he said.
Meanwhile, on allegations of “distractions” by Sharul, Shu Liang said the officials involved had asked for the doping tests to be carried out before the start of the vault event.
He said the issue affected Sharul, who was trying to focus on his event.
“But I don’t blame them because these are their Games … it’s normal in any competition that dope tests are carried out after the events are completed,” he said.
The national artistic gymnastics squad also bagged a bronze in the men’s all-around team event yesterday, bringing the total bronze medals won to five at this edition