MALAYSIA IN THE RIGHT MOOD

Buoyant national contingent march at Sea Games opening ceremony

ABRILLIANT start. That best describes Malaysia’s campaign so far in the Sea Games, thanks to their world-class diving team’s eight-gold clean sweep at the My Dinh Aquatics Centre in Hanoi.

The Pandelela Rinong-led team were calm and collected against their lowly Southeast Asian rivals in the four-day competition that ended on Wednesday, a day before the official opening ceremony of the 31st Sea Games.

With nine gold (including one from silat seni) already in the bag, the Malaysian contingent need 27 more to achieve their target of 36 gold. Malaysia have also targeted 35 silver and 75 bronze.

Malaysia have set a modest target, which is understandable, as the hosts have dropped many sports the country is good at.

Furthermore, 338 of the 584 athletes are making their maiden appearance at the Sea Games in Hanoi.

Of course, the sports bodies took into consideration that their athletes had no proper competition for about two years as Covid-19 forced the cancellations and postponements of sporting events.

Apart from the gold galore from our divers, Malaysia will be banking on athletics, archery, bowling, karate, silat, petanque and wushu for titles.

However, gold medals could also come from bodybuilding, eSports, cue sports, cycling, chess (including Xiangqi), gymnastics, swimming and taekwondo.

Timesport predicts the Malaysian contingent will win 43 gold in Hanoi.

However, winning the additional gold will depend on the athletes' form on the day and the results of subjective sports. It is normal for the hosts to manipulate scores in subjective sports in the Sea Games.

Let’s analyse Malaysia’s performance in diving. On paper, the divers achieved their target with a clean sweep. However, if we comprehensively study their scores, they were far from their best.

It also shows the national diving team do not have enough quality divers. If there were, Malaysia Swimming (MS) would have taken BA of Malaysia’s (BAM) move by opting for a full backup squad to lead the country’s charge.

However, the Sea Games still provided some positives for seniors like Pandelela, Wendy Ng, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Ooi Tze Liang and Chew Yiwei as they tested new routines and partnerships ahead of bigger competitions this year like the World Championships and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Credit should also go to up-and-coming divers Gabriel Gilbert Daim, Betrand Rhodict Anak Lises, Kimberly Bong and Ong Ker Ying as their medal feats will offer them confidence for future assignments.

Yesterday’s opening ceremony of the biennial Games was colourful and signified a huge victory for the region against the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the event’s postponement from last year to this year.

However, Covid-19 will still cloud the Games, and athletes will have to follow the guidelines to ensure they remain healthy ahead of their respective competitions.

The Sea Games is a lower-tier multi-sport event, and many, especially newcomers, use the competition to gain experience and to work on improvements.

Winning a Sea Games title should never be the ultimate goal of any athlete in this region. Instead, a gold in Hanoi should be used as a motivation to strive for excellence in Asian and world-level events.

Like the previous editions, the Hanoi Games will definitely have drama, excitement and disappointments along the way.

Failing in the Sea Games is not the end of the world for our athletes. Instead, they should learn to live with disappointments and sadness, and use them as a motivation to become stronger for future assignments.

The magic moments of the Sea Games will make fans laugh, cheer and cry for our athletes, but everyone should always motivate them as they have sacrificed a lot of their time to bring joy to the country.

Let’s support our athletes and enjoy the Sea Games.