13-gold Haul Gives Positive Outlook On Medal Target

KORAT, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- For the first time, after seven days of competition, there was a positive outlook on Malaysia's 64-gold target as a 13-gold haul today helped raise the gold count to 44.

The search for gold was given a kick start in the morning when Ku Jin Keat and Lim Lee Lee swept the Individual men's and women's Kata gold while R. Puvaneswaran (men's Under 55kg) and Lim Yoke Wai (men's Under 65kg) added two more in the afternoon.

Not to be outdone by Karate-do's four-gold feat, lawn bowls came in with a matching number after winning gold from men's Pairs, women's Pairs, men's Triples and women's Triples.

Cyclists came home with two gold medals through Josiah Ng's Individual Sprint gold and the men's Team Pursuit.

The men's Recurve team shot down one from archery events while equestrian added one more to the tally after Qabil Ambak leaped his way to the gold in the Individual Jumping event.

Che Chew Chan later punched her way to the women's Under 72kg gold to cap a good harvest.

Weightlifter Che Mat Azrol Che Mat, winner of two consecutive SEA Games gold medals at Vietnam and Manila respectively lost the gold on a countback in the men's above 105kg weight category while the women's Kata team finished with a silver.

There were also a number of near misses in weightlifting, diving, karate-do, taekwondo and lawn bowls which could have added to the overall tally.

A much anticipated gold from Leong Mun Yee in the men's 3m Springboard, turned into silver when Sheila Perez of Philippines pipped her to the gold.

Tomorrow, another 62 gold medals are on offer with muay thai and boxing offering the highest number of gold medals with 11 and 10 respectively while karate-do and taekwondo offer seven each.

Other sports offering medals are judo (4), golf (4), softball (2), petanque (2), diving (2), basketball (2), bowling (2), cycling (2), futsal (2), hockey (2), snooker, women's football and gymnastics provide one each.

With three days of competitions left and a total of 135 medals at stake there is every reason to believe that the Malaysian contingent can win another 20 to achieve the target.

--BERNAMA