Taqiyuddin, Sazzlan defend ganda gold

A commendable performance with a variety of techniques displayed by Mohd Taqiyuddin Hamid and Sazzlan Yuga gave an advantage to the national silat exponents to defend the gold medal in the men's ganda (doubles) event at the 31st SEA Games here today.

The Malaysian pair came out tops in the final at the Bac Tu Liem Sporting Centre, after earning 9,905 points to beat their Singaporean challengers, Muhammad Hazim Mohammad Zaque and Muhammad Haziq Mohammad Zaque.

The sibling pair from Singapore collected 9,905 points to grab the silver while the bronze was shared by host pair Duc Danh Tran-Hong Que Le and AbdulKarim Yusoh-Khairulmahadi Yusoh from Thailand who did not get past the semi-finals yesterday.

The success of Taqiyuddin and Sazzlan, who won in the same category at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, gave Malaysia the first gold medal in pencak silat at the Games this time.

The 2018 world champions' achievement also brought Malaysia's gold medal tally to seven after the national divers contributed six gold medals so far.

When met by reporters after the final, Sazzlan said he was very satisfied with the success, while describing the achievement as boosting their spirit to show their best action at the 2022 World Pencak Silat Championships in Kuala Lumpur next July.

Sazzlan said as the defending champions, he and Taqiyuddin competed in the final without feeling any pressure but instead gave full focus to show their best action today.

"Actually, we felt more pressure when facing the host pair from Vietnam yesterday in the semi-finals. So today, we only focused on our performance and did not watch the action of the opponents who performed first, "he said.

The success of winning the gold medal in Hanoi is the third for Taqiyuddin who previously topped the event in the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur paired with Rosli Sharif before starting to team up with Sazzlan at the 2019 Games in the Philippines.

-- BERNAMA