Its president, Shahidan Kassim, said the hope of bringing home 10 gold medals was based on the current performance of national athletes before they arrived in Cambodia.

Despite the disappointing performance of the country’s athletes, Shahidan is grateful that MAF’s move to risk a number of new faces paid off as they managed to bring home bronze medals.

“Getting the unexpected bronze medals proves that our first-time athletes benefit from their exposure at the SEA Games,” he said.

Apart from five golds, the athletics competitions which came to a close yesterday also saw Malaysia take three silver and 12 bronze medals.

The five-gold achievement by the athletics squad equalled the record at the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.

In Cambodia, three national athletes – Grace Wong (women’s hammer), Irfan Shamsuddin (men’s discus throw) and Andre Anura Anuar (men’s triple jump) – gave excellent performances by defending their respective gold medals.

The focus was also on national women’s 400m champion, Shereen Samson Vallabouy who lived up to expectations by clinching the gold medal. She returned Malaysia to the top position in the women’s event after N Manimagalay last won the race in the 1999 edition in Brunei.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old runner Umar Osman bagged a surprise gold in his first appearance at the biennial sports event.

The young man from Kluang, Johor recorded 46.34s in the 400m men’s race to break the men’s national record of 46.61s set almost 22 years ago by Zaiful Zainal Abidin in the Junior Asian Athletics Championships in Brunei in July 2001.

Umar’s success saw him end a 14-year gold drought in the event which was last won by Zafril Zuslaini in the 2009 edition in Vientiane, Laos.

Malaysia’s men’s 4x400m quartet also managed to end a 10-year medal drought by garnering the bronze yesterday.

The quartet of Umar, Abdul Wafiy Roslan, Firdaus Zemi and S Tarshan recorded a time of 3:08.82s to clinch the bronze and match Malaysia’s achievement in the 2013 edition in Myanmar.