As of now, Malaysia is leading the SEA Games medals race with 63 gold medals in the bag. Here are the athletes whose hard work helped us get to where we are:
1. The chinlone linking team
In case you’re wondering what chinlone is, it’s commonly referred to as sepak takraw in Malaysia. This is the team that won us our first gold medal in this year’s SEA Games.
2. The archery team
Both the men and women’s teams won gold in the compound and recurve events. Our mixed archery team also won gold in the compound event.
3. Gan Hua Wei and Zylane Lee Yhing Huey
Hua Wei and Zylane wow-ed the judges with their beautiful synchronised swimming routines and walked away with two gold medals: one for the Solo Technical Routine and another for the Duet Free Routine.
4. Welson Sim, Kevin Yeap, Phee Jinq En, and Heidi Gan
Not only did they bring home the gold, Jinq En and Welson even managed to break the SEA Game records with their speed!
5. The athletics team
Speedy Jantan is probably the most popular runner right now. His fellow teammates – Muhammad Hakimi Ismail and Jackie Wong – also managed to break SEA Games records and win gold with their performance. The other gold medalists in the team are Muhammad Irfan Shamshuddin, Elena Goh, and Grace Wong.
6. The male rugby team
It’s the first time that we won a gold medal for rugby at the SEA Games!
7. Our bowling team
Both our male and female bowling teams managed to win gold medals for five categories.
8. Our equestrian team
Many Malaysians pay special attention to this as one of the participants is none other than the Sultan of Terengganu. The Sultan led his team to victory in four categories.
9. The wushu team
Malaysians are Chinese martial arts masters too! We won gold in six different categories, thanks to Loh Jack Chang, Yeap Wai Kin, Ho Mun Hua, and Diana Bong.
10. The cricket team
This just happened! It’s the first time that cricket is being played in the SEA Games and we won the gold medal! The team trained so hard for its debut and the hard work paid off.
11. Mohamed Harrif Salleh, Muhammad Ameen A. Kamal, Muhammad Fauzan A. Lutfi, and Nik Mohd Azwan bin Zulkiflie
These four lads did us proud by winning the first gold medal for this year’s cycling sport. They represented the country in the Road Events category.
12. Muhammad Hafizuddin Mat Daud, Saiful Bahri Musmin, and Syed Akmal Fikri Syed Ali
You’ve probably never heard of pétanque before. It’s a sport where players have to toss their steel balls as close as possible to a wooden ball in the circle. Our pétanque men’s team brought home the first two gold medals for this.
13. Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan, Benjamin Khor, and Alia Sazana Azahari
Watch out for these three because they are accurate shooters. The trio won Malaysia three gold medals in their respective shooting categories: 50m Rifle Prone, Double Trap, and 25m Pistol. 13. Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan, Benjamin Khor, and Alia Sazana Azahari.
14. Muhammad Fuad Redzuan
Our boxer is not just an athlete, but also a member of the Royal Malaysian Navy. The last time the Malaysian boxing squad won a gold medal at the SEA Games was eight years ago.
15. The gymnastics team
Our queen of gymnastics, Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, and her teammates managed to bring back five gold medals in their respective categories.
16. Our karate team
It seems like we’re really good at martial arts! Not only did we win big in wushu, but we also got seven gold medals for karate!
17. The female lawn bowls team
It might seem easy, but it actually requires more focus than you think. Our female lawn bowls team managed to win a gold medal for the Fours category.
18. The netball team
We’re so proud of our girls in the netball team. They already proved from the start that they are champions when they went up against the Singaporean team, and finally beat them 65-41.
19. Mohd Taqiyuddin Hamid and Rosli Sharif
No one does silat better than us. The duo won the first silat category for us, and hopefully there are more gold medals to come!
20. The mixed sailing team
Don’t underestimate this bunch. They proved that they’re the best by winning the gold medal in the Mixed Sailing category again this year.
21. Our squash team
It seems that our squash team is slowly following Nicol David’s footsteps. They didn’t disappoint by winning gold for all the doubles categories. Here’s to hoping that they win the singles as well!
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written by Esther Chung