GUANGZHOU, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- Fresh from the victorious outing at the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India last month, Malaysian athletes should not rest on their laurels.
They have an equally big mission to accomplish -- to continue the success at the 16th Asian Games which will officially open here on Friday.
The Malaysian contingent is tasked with delivering the targetted nine gold medals to make it the best achievement for the country since first participating in the 1954 Asian Games in Manila.
The 333 athletes and 144 officials are eyeing the nine gold medals from squash, cycling, tenpin bowling and wushu.
At the 15th Asiad in Doha, Qatar four years ago, the Malaysian contingent's medal tally was eight gold, 17 silver and 17 bronze.
The gold came from tenpin bowling (three), squash (two) and one each for badminton, wushu and sailing.
According to Chef-de-Mission Datuk Zolkples Embong, who is also National Sports Council (NSC) director-general, several sports such as taekwondo, karate and sailing could also deliver gold for the contingent.
"If the contingent delivers the targetted nine golds, it would be history in the making for our participation in the Asiad," he told Bernama.
Malaysia will take part in 28 out of 42 sports offered in Guangzhou.
They are aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, billiard sports, tenpin bowling, boxing, chess, cricket, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, kabaddi, karate, rugby, sailing, sepaktakraw, shooting, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, wushu, volleyball and triathlon.
Nevertheless, he reminded the Asiad contingent -- half of whom were in New Delhi -- not to be overconfident as the status of the Asian Games was much higher than the Commonwealth Games.
Zolkples is confident the Malaysian athletes would continue their momentum in Guangzhou, adding that the medal prospect in Guangzhou was different from that of New Delhi.
"In New Delhi, we targeted golds for weightlifting, aquatics, archery, badminton and lawn bowls...in Guangzhou, the gold medal prospect is from tenpin bowling, badminton, cycling, squash and wushu," he noted.
Asked to comment on Malaysia targeting gold, mostly from non-olympic sports, Zolkples did not deny that fact.
"We'll continue to do our best in Olympic sports but at the same time, the non-olympic sports like tenpin bowling and squash are still a gold mine for us," he said.
Unlike the poor-publicity generated by New Delhi on their preparation for the Commonwealth Games, Guangzhou, the third largest city in China and boasting a population of 10 million, enjoys the thumbs-up for their readiness.
A total of 10,156 athletes and 4,202 team officials from 45 countries will compete in Guangzhou when the Games officially open on Nov 12 and concludes on Nov 27.
Participating countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and several West Asia nations like Iran and Iraq are tipped to dominate the Asiad in various fields.
The host has upgraded nine and built five new venues with state-of-the art facilities for the Games.
The Asian Games are the second largest sports event in the world after the Summer Olympic Games.
-- BERNAMA From Zulhilmi Supaat
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