SEA Games: Malaysia capable of winning over 50 gold medals in Hanoi

KUALA LUMPUR: It is not impossible for the Malaysian contingent competing in the 31st South East Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi, Vietnam to win over 50 gold medals and exceed the set target of 36 gold medals.

National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said 36 gold medals was a realistic target to achieve.

He said, however, the council is expecting another 16 or 17 gold medals from the national contingent if the analyses on athlete performance and other countries' teams were accurate and did not change.

"The additional 16 or 17 are based on data that we cannot quite obtain, especially data on our rival's performance and development.

"Because they did not compete and several championships where our athletes would have competed against them were cancelled, we cannot predict clearly their situation," he told Bernama at the Jalur Gemilang flag handover to the 31st SEA Games Malaysian contingent at NSC, Bukit Jalil recently.

At the media conference, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu announced Malaysia's target for the biennial games, 36 gold, 35 silver and 75 bronze, for a total of 146 medals.

Based on current performance, 15 sports will contribute 36 golds, with diving and athletics capable of winning more than five gold medals.

Meanwhile taekwondo, wushu, petanque, pencak silat and bodybuilding are the sports that can provide additional gold medals.

The 31st SEA Games will take place from May 12 to 23, with 584 national athletes participating.

Malaysia's best performance in the history of the sporting event is 145 gold, 92 silver and 86 bronze when the country emerged as champions in the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur.

In the 2019 edition in the Philippines, the national contingent failed to meet the target of 70 gold medals, bringing back only 55 gold, 58 silver and 71 bronze medals.

-- BERNAMA