MALAYSIA fell flat on their faces in their bid to break Thailand’s stranglehold in the sepaktakraw competition.
The Thais ruled again, even without ace tekong Kriangkrai Kaewmian, in the final round-robin match of the men’s regu event at the Haizhu Sports Centre yesterday.
The crafty Thais chalked up an easy 21-12, 21-19 win to pick up their second gold medal in the men’s competitions. They also scored an easy win over Malaysia in the team final last Saturday.
The top Thai regu comprised Kriangkrai, Anuwat Chaichana (apit kanan) and Pattarapong Yupadee (apit kiri) but they sprang a surprise yesterday to start with unknown Nongkhai Wirawut in the tekong position.
Malaysia took a gamble to start with the veteran Mohd Futra Abdul Ghani (apit kanan) and Normanizam Ahmad (tekong) with the 21-year-old Farhan Adam (apit kanan) and they failed miserably.
Mohd Futra and Normanizam were members of the successful Malaysian regu who broke the 12-year Thai domination in the inter-regu event at the 2005 Manila SEA Games.
But they were nowhere near the kind of form they showed five years ago.
They lacked stamina and the energy against the far fitter Thais.
Coach Iskandar Arshad replaced an ineffective Mohd Futra with Norshahruddin Mad Ghani with Malaysia trailing 10-16 in the opening set but it was too late and the Thais sealed the game in 30 minutes.
There was some resistance from the Malaysian regu in the second game.
They led 9-5 but the Thais reorganised themselves well to draw level at 14-14 before making the final push for victory.
A dejected Normanizam admitted that they were caught off guard by the Thai’s decision not to field Kriangkrai.
“We were prepared for his serves.
But they fielded a new tekong and it took us some time to settle down in the opening set. We came back stronger in the second but we just could not find the energy to break the Thais,” he said.
Malaysia last won a gold medal in the Asiad sepaktakraw at the 1994 Games in Hiroshima. Since then, they have been reduced to playing second fiddle to Thaland with a haul of 0-2-1 in 1998 (Bangkok), 0-1-1 in 2002 (Busan) and 0-2-1 in 2006 (Doha).
Star
The Thais ruled again, even without ace tekong Kriangkrai Kaewmian, in the final round-robin match of the men’s regu event at the Haizhu Sports Centre yesterday.
The crafty Thais chalked up an easy 21-12, 21-19 win to pick up their second gold medal in the men’s competitions. They also scored an easy win over Malaysia in the team final last Saturday.
The top Thai regu comprised Kriangkrai, Anuwat Chaichana (apit kanan) and Pattarapong Yupadee (apit kiri) but they sprang a surprise yesterday to start with unknown Nongkhai Wirawut in the tekong position.
Malaysia took a gamble to start with the veteran Mohd Futra Abdul Ghani (apit kanan) and Normanizam Ahmad (tekong) with the 21-year-old Farhan Adam (apit kanan) and they failed miserably.
Mohd Futra and Normanizam were members of the successful Malaysian regu who broke the 12-year Thai domination in the inter-regu event at the 2005 Manila SEA Games.
But they were nowhere near the kind of form they showed five years ago.
They lacked stamina and the energy against the far fitter Thais.
Coach Iskandar Arshad replaced an ineffective Mohd Futra with Norshahruddin Mad Ghani with Malaysia trailing 10-16 in the opening set but it was too late and the Thais sealed the game in 30 minutes.
There was some resistance from the Malaysian regu in the second game.
They led 9-5 but the Thais reorganised themselves well to draw level at 14-14 before making the final push for victory.
A dejected Normanizam admitted that they were caught off guard by the Thai’s decision not to field Kriangkrai.
“We were prepared for his serves.
But they fielded a new tekong and it took us some time to settle down in the opening set. We came back stronger in the second but we just could not find the energy to break the Thais,” he said.
Malaysia last won a gold medal in the Asiad sepaktakraw at the 1994 Games in Hiroshima. Since then, they have been reduced to playing second fiddle to Thaland with a haul of 0-2-1 in 1998 (Bangkok), 0-1-1 in 2002 (Busan) and 0-2-1 in 2006 (Doha).
Star
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