‘One gold medal target at Universiade realistic’

PUTRAJAYA: The one gold medal target at the World University Games (Universiade) in Gwangju, South Korea from July 3-14 is realistic, said the Malaysian contingent’s Universiade chief executive officer Hazally Jali.

He said the national athletes, especially from badminton and archery, had the best track records at the World University Championship.

Badminton produced a gold medal via the men’s doubles of Iskandar Zulkarnain and Mohd Arif Ab Latif at the Universiade in Cordoba, Spain last year while the national women’s archery trio won a silver medal in 2012, also in Spain.

“The performance of the national athletes has been good. Based on their successes, this is the best chance for the national athletes win gold medals at the Universiade.

“The Universiade is the second biggest sports meet after the Olympics in terms of participation. Many of the athletes involved have taken part in the Olympics,” he said.

He told this to reporters after the ceremony to hand over the Malaysian flag to the contingent. The Education Ministry’s (KPM) deputy secretary-general (Higher Education Development) Datuk Nasir Mat Dam handed over the flag chef-de-mission Prof Dr Anuar Hassan at a hotel here yesterday.

The flag bearer, archer Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, is a national gold medal prospect after winning gold at the World Cup in Shanghai, China and three gold medals at the Singapore SEA Games in the compound bow category.

“But Iskandar cannot participate in the Universiade this time because he could not be released by the Badminton of Malaysia (BAM) but we still have the likes of Mohd Arif Ab Latif and Zulfadli Zukifli (national singles player),” Hazally said.

A total 111 athletes will be taking part in 15 sport events in Gwangju, and 14 of them were gold medal contributors at the SEA Games in Singapore last month.

For the record, the national athletes had to be contented three bronze medals in Kazan, Russia in 2013. – Bernama