Malaysia head for landslide victory in SEA Games

Having achieved their 111-gold target yesterday, the hosts were in no compromising mood and returned their highest daily collection of 20 so far by late evening in already their best Games performance ever to lead the table with 131 gold against second placed Thailand's 67.

With more victories expected from track cycling and diving before the day is over, Malaysia will be the runaway success story of the biennial regional sporting event which they topped for only their second time after having emerged as the overall champion with 111 gold when hosting the games in 2001.

The icing on the cake or rather the mother of all gold medals in the games would be decided in tonight's titanic clash between Malaysia and defending champions Thailand in the men's football final.

Continuing their winning streak at the National Velodrome in Nilai, woman cyclist Fatehah Mustapa broke her own national record to clinch her second Games gold in the 500m time trial clocking 34.52s, faster by 0.125s of her previous 2014 mark set in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, after shrugging off a spirited late charge from Indonesian riders Crismonita Dwi Putri and Santia Tri Kusuma.

Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis also took his second gold after bagging the men's 1km time trial in 1:01.889s ahead of teammate Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom in 1:02.356s.

In pencak silat, Malaysia emerged with a fistful of seven gold with Muhammad Faizul Nasir and Mohd Al Jefferi Jamari defending their titles in the men's Class B (50kg-55kg) and Class E (65kg-70kg) .

The other winners were Razak Ghazali who upstaged previous winner Pornteb Pool Kaew of Thailand for the men's Class D (60-65kg) gold, Mohd Fauzi Khalid (Class F 70-75kg), Muhammad Robial Sobri (Class H 80kg-85kg) and women exponents Siti Rahmah Mohmed Nasir (Class E 65kg-70kg) and Siti Shawana Ajak retaining the women's Class D (60kg-65kg) gold for Malaysia which was won by Siti Rahmah in Singapore.

Malaysia captured two of five titles in Muay through Ain Kamarruddin in the 54kg-57kg category and Mohd Ali Yaakub wrapping up the 51kg-54kg class.

The Hanifah siblings accounted for three gold today. Aaliyah Yoong stretched her personal count to three, adding the women's individual jumping and tricks titles to her defence of the overall jump gold three days ago, and also took silver in the slalom.

Shrugging off a nagging fever, the 14-year-old cleared 32.6m in the jumping contest to upset previous winner Rossi Amir of Indonesia who finished on 30.8m for the silver.

Aaliyah, whose younger siblings Aiden and Adam are appearing in the Games, was the clear winner in the tricks, amassing 5,880 points compared to second placed Sabelle Kee of Singapore with 3,450.

Adam rose above his tender nine years to prove himself a man in the tricks, winning gold with a score of 3,860 to push his older Indonesian rivals Dimas Ridho Suprihono for silver with 3,440 and Fabrianto Kadir for the bronze on 3,140 points.

"I'm so happy with the win. I gave the best that I could ...Thank you for all the support and I will continue to do my best in the future," Adam told reporters later.

In Langkawi, the Optimist sailing events crowned two young Malaysian champions, Nurul Shazwanie Mohd Saad in the girl's race and Muhammad Fauzi Kaman Shah in the boy's event.

Malaysia took a solitary gold in badminton and it was 17-year-old Goh Jin Wei who triumphed over the more fancied Soniia Cheah 21-11, 21-10 in the women's final. Mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Lai Jemie took silver after losing to Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattananchai 15-22, 20-22.

The honours in polo belonged to Malaysia after a 9-8 victory over Thailand in the final.