Sepak takraw: Malaysian gold drought continues

HANOI: The national sepak takraw squad’s quest for a first gold medal at the 31st SEA Games was dashed when they lost 2-1 to Indonesia in the final of the men’s doubles event at the Hoang Mai Gymnasium yesterday.

Malaysia were favourites to create history and bag their first gold medal in this event following the absence of world champions Thailand and the fact that the national team had beaten the Indonesian pair in the group stage on Wednesday.

The event was introduced at the 2005 SEA Games in the Philippines.

Malaysia, featuring Aidil Aiman Azwawi and Muhammad Noraizat Mohd Nordin, with Muhammad Afifudin Mohd Razali as reserve player, failed to capitalise on the opportunity against a gutsy Indonesian pair of Hardiansyah Muliang and Saiful Rijal. In the first set, the Malaysians went down 17-21 before regaining their composure in the next set to edge the Indonesians 22-20 and set up an absorbing decider.

In the deciding set, both pairs gave it a real go and luck deserted the national team towards the end of the game and they lost 23-25, leaving Malaysia to equal their achievement at the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur when they also settled for silver after losing to Myanmar.

Malaysia, who did not compete in the doubles event at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, had earlier defeated the Philippines 21-18, 21-12 in the semi-finals.

In their Group E ties earlier, Malaysia downed Cambodia 21-9, 21-12 and Indonesia 21-19, 21-18.

Only the national women’s team will compete in the quadrant event today.