Malaysia set higher target this time
THE Kuala Lumpur Sea Games offers the national team the chance to be heroes for Malaysia and secure their places in the history books with a record-breaking performance.
The Malaysian National Silat Federation (Pesaka) have set a target of eight gold at the games — substantially higher than the previous best of five achieved at the 2001 KL Games. Although it appears a lofty target, it is achievable due to a number of factors.
There will be more to fight for this time in both the olahraga and seni disciplines as a total of 20 gold will be on offer compared to a pared down event offering only 13 gold in Singapore two years ago where Malaysia won three events.
The squad this time also feature a solid line-up of current and former Sea Games and world champions.
Among them are Fauzi Khalid, Mohd Al Jufferi Jamari, Siti Rahmah Nasir and Siti Humairah Kasidin as well as Faizul M. Nasir, Muhammad Zarish Hakim and Razak Ghazali in olahraga events and Mohd Taqiyuddin Hamid, Rosli Mohd Sharif and Mohd Afifi Nordin in seni discipline.
Jufferi created history when he became the first silat exponent to win Sportsman of the Year (2015) at the National Sports Awards. He is currently at the peak of his powers and is likely to be one of the stars of the tournament.
The well-experienced Fauzi will also have a lot to fight for with the sacrifices he has made to be part of the team (see accompanying story).
Fighting on home ground in a familiar venue with strong support from the crowd will obviously be a big advantage for the national team.
Silat, being a subjective sport, however, has a bad reputation for biased judging which even affected the last edition of the games and also at the World Championships in Bali last year.
Fauzi was clearly a victim two years ago when he was brought down illegally by Singapore's Muhammad Nur Alfian Juma'en with only one second remaining in the final round of the men's under-75kg silat olahraga semifinal.
The referee consulted the jury on the matter but ruled in favour of Nur Alfian, which gave the latter a 3-2 win. Fauzi stormed off the mat in protest and the score was later revised to 5-0 in favour of Nur Alfian.
It will be interesting to see if Malaysia, as hosts, will be able to be fair and play by the book. Pesaka will be debuting a new electronic scoring system, similar to those already used in karate and taekwondo, at the games though it is unlikely to 100 per cent accurate.
Pesaka have acknowledged this and aim to fine tune the system in the run-up to the games. A clean and fair competition is not only important for Malaysia's reputation as hosts but also the sport itself as it looks to gain popularity worldwide.
Once again, traditional rivals Indonesia, overall champions in 2011 and 2013, and Vietnam (champions 2015) will be the teams to beat with Malaysia having finished third behind the two at the 2011 and 2015 games. An improving Thailand could, however, sneak a few gold from the three as they did in Myanmar (two gold) and Singapore (three gold).
With the silat competition being held in the final few days of the Games, it is very likely that the sport play an important role in Malaysia achieving its goal of becoming overall champions of the Sea Games. The last time it had done so was at the 2001 Games in Malaysia.
Pesaka understand the importance of the occasion and have left nothing to chance in regard to the preparation of the team. The squad recently spent three weeks training in the highlands of Da Lat in Vietnam and are currently in camp in Fraser Hill.
Secretary general Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin has even warned their exponents that no excuses will be accepted should they fail to meet their Sea Games targets.
However, based on their recent performances at the Belgian Open, where they won five gold despite not being at full strength and their attention to detail, preparation-wise, Timesport is confident the team will meet, if not exceed, their eight-gold target at the Sea Games.