The Malaysian contingent taking part in the ASEAN Para Games (APG) is just one gold medal shy of the 50-gold target set for the games.
The penultimate day of the APG Tuesday saw a surprise gold harvest by Malaysian athletes who swept 14 gold medals to edge ever closer to the 50-gold target as the 14 won today lifted the overall tally to 49 gold.
Today’s medal haul also included 12 silver and seven bronze medals which lifted Malaysia’s position to third in the overall medal tally, relegating Vietnam to fourth.
Malaysia now has 49 gold, 53 silver and 36 bronze medals while Thailand continued their dominance at the top with 84 gold, 71 silver and 77 bronze while Indonesia stayed in second place with 79 gold, 70 silver and 61 bronze.
Vietnam who have 47 gold, 58 silver and 47 bronze are Malaysia’s biggest threat in the overall standing.
When the sixth day of competitions ended today, athletics remained the biggest contributor with four gold, four silver and a bronze, for a total of 25 gold medals over the six days, three shy of the 28 targetted.
Abdul Latif Romly gave the first track and field gold in splendid style after winning the men’s F20 Long jump with a distance of 7.43m en route to setting a new Asian record.
Ace sprinter H. Krishna Kumar once again proved that he was a star in sprint events by winning the men’s 200m T38 gold medal while Doriah Poulus added the third from the men’s F42/44 shot put before Muhamad Afiq Ali Hanafiah made if four with a new games record in the men’s 200m T12 with a time of 23.32s.
Powerlifting pulled off a pleasant surprise by contributing three gold, one silver and three bronze medals while badminton and swimming contributed one gold each.
Sailing was another surprise contributor today, after sailing in with a gold and silver while table tennis completed the gold medal haul today.
Athletics will continue to be the focus of gold medals tomorrow, the final day of competitions, to achieve the 50-gold target while hopes still remain in boccia, football (seven-a-side), goalball and wheelchair basketball. – BERNAMA
