Malaysia Edge Closer To Asian Games Target After Winning Sixth Gold

From Zulhilmi Supaat

GUANGZHOU, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysia edged closer to the nine-gold medal target when kegler Alex Liew contributed the country's sixth gold medal from the men's All-events at the Tianhe Bowling Hall here Monday.

The gold medal on Monday which was Alex Liew's second personal gold medal of the Asian Games (won the men's doubles with Adrian Ang) plus another three silver and a bronze medal, saw Malaysia move up to ninth spot in the overall medal tally on day 11.

Alex Liew's gold provided a measure of consolation for the Malaysian camp that lost expected gold medals at the badminton courts through the men's doubles pair of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Datuk Lee Chong Wei in the men's singles.

Apart from the gold, Alex Liew also helped the men's team comprising Adrian Ang, Aaron Kong, Muhammad Aiman Khairuddin and Muhd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, to win the silver medal.

National divers splashed their way to two silver medals in the women's 3M Synchronized Springboard through Leong Mun Yee and Ng Yan Yee before Bryan Nickson Lomas and Ooi Tze Liang provided another silver lining from the 10M Synchronized Platform diving.

Meanwhile, Esther Cheah, Sharon Koh, Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi, Shalin Zulkifli, Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani and Sin Li Jane could only manage a bronze medal from the women's team event.

With the gold, three silver and a bronze collected Monday, Malaysia's overall medal tally reached 6 gold, 11 silver, 8 bronze and moved up a notch from yesterday's 10th spot to take up ninth place.

India in eighth spot also have six gold medals but have a better silver medal count.

Host China however, had no peers within their sight after piling up 154 gold, 77 silver, 73 bronze, a good 93 gold medals more than second placed South Korea who have managed 61 gold, 51 silver, 66 bronze while Japan remain third with a 32-59-67 tally.

On Tuesday, the bowling alley will also be the focus of the Malaysian camp when Alex Liew and Aaron Kong feature in the men's Masters Event while Sharon Koh and Esther Cheah see action in the Women's Masters.

Hockey fans at home and in Guangzhou will be also hoping for the hockey boys who take on India in the semifinal, to pull of a pleasant upset and enhance their gold medal hopes.

In athletics, Lee Hup Wei who features in the men's high jump would be hoping to win the country's first medal from track and field events.

Squash players who contributed two gold medals in the individual events would also be in action Tuesday when the team events open kick off.

-- BERNAMA