Two Dozen In The Bag, 40 More To Go

KORAT, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian contingent picked up nine gold medals but there was no reason to be on cloud nine as expectations in a number of events and sports, fell flat.

Though gymnastics (2), athletics (2), squash (1), wushu (1), bowling (1), equestrian (1) and cycling (1) contributed towards the overall medal tally today, it was a dry day at the pool as there was no golden splash after a two-gold feat yesterday.

There was also disappointment at the Wushu courts when Malaysian wushu exponents picked up only one of the 13 gold medals on offer today, neither was there a golden lift from the weightlifting arena.

Athletics picked up two gold medals from the nine offered today to reach the half-way mark of their targeted 10 but the number could have been more if not for the unexpected loss by defending champion Moh Siew Wei in the women's 100m hurdles and Ngew Sin Mei's failure to capture the long jump gold.

Bowling also slipped in the SF Bowling Centre in Bangkok when the men's trios could only manage a bronze.

The nine golds collected today was also the highest in four days of competition since the Games officially opened last Thursday, and saw Malaysia's overall tally rise to 24 gold, 21 silver, 45 bronze and sneak past Philippines to regain fourth place.

Thailand however continued their lead and march towards their 150-gold target with a total of 78 gold, 75 silver, 60 bronze while Vietnam with 41 gold, 22 silver, 46 bronze are second and Singapore on 32, 26, 22 maintained third placing.

On their current form, the Thais look like a sure bet to reach their target as 255 gold medals are available over the next five days of competition.

Tomorrow, 53 gold medals are at stake with athletics providing 12, swimming (6), bodybuilding (5), cycling (5) judo (4), archery (4), petanque (3), fencing (3), snooker (3), weightlifting (2), rugby (2), bowling (2), handball (1) and waterpolo (1).

Once again Malaysia's focus for medals will be on athletics, swimming, bowling, cycling, bodybuilding and archery.

With 24 gold medals in the bag, the Malaysian contingent need another 40 to meet the 64-gold target for the Games, three more than the 61-gold haul in Manila two years ago.

-- BERNAMA