Gold within our grasp
NATIONAL golfer Chan Tuck Soon has identified Thailand and Singapore as Malaysia’s biggest rivals in the Sea Games on August 22-26 at the Mines Resort and Golf Club.
This is because Thailand will be sending a four-member men’s team that include Asia’s number eight ranked amateur golfer, Sadom Kaewkanjana.
Singapore will be represented by Gregory Foo, who is ranked sixth in Asia on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and was also the winner of the Singapore Open Amateur Championship, the same tournament that saw Malaysia’s Ervin Chang in second place.
Nonetheless, Tuck Soon believes Malaysia has the gravitas to grasp the gold medal.
“We have a strong team, the team spirit is high and not only do we work hard during training but we support each other to ensure we achieve our daily goals.”
“Our bond is so strong that we will try not to miss a single day of training where we treat each other with respect that it’s starting to feel like a family and in short, the team spirit we build is our drive to believing gold is the only colour we want to win.”
Tuck Soon is referring to the bond created among himself, Ervin and Galven Green as they hope to win the Sea Games team event for the third time following successes in 1989 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2011 (Jakarta) with Malaysia’s best ever performance in the individual event silver, achieved by Airil Rizman Zahari in 2011.
The trio have been training since January with the help of coaches Steven Guiliano and V Gunalen, who is also the men’s team manager, as Tuck Soon is set to make his debut at the Sea Games.
“I am totally excited and looking forward to start, as I said this is one of the best preparations that I’ve ever experienced and my confidence level and game have improved tremendously ever since the centralised training started.”
The 23-year-old is not expecting much from the individual men’s category as he is only aiming for a top five finish.
“My goal is to finish top-five and gold for the team event because this year the team event is a matchplay, it’s important to have a well-balanced team.”
“I admit that we have one of the most well-balanced teams in the history, with the right strategies and planning, we will definitely win it.” Farah Azharie