It was a day of drama when the Malaysia Contingent secured 2 bronze medals on Tuesday, 3rd October 2023, courtesy of Datuk Pandelela Rinong Pamg OLY in her pet event, Aquatics Diving Women’s 10m Platform and the Athletics Women’s 4x100m Relay Team comprising of Azreen Nabila Alias OLY, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli OLY, Nur Afrina Batrisyia and Shereen Samson Vallabouy.
The 2 bronze medals enabled the Malaysian Contingent to rank 15th in the overall medal tally, with a total of 3 golds, 4 silvers and 16 bronzes, with 3 medals from Squash already assured.
In terms of total medals so far, the Malaysian Contingent is ranked 11th with 23 medals. Following is the recap of the day:
𝗔𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗗𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗚
Dato’ Pandelela Rinong Pamg OLY won her fifth Asian Games medal by contributing a bronze in her favourite discipline, the Women’s 10 Platform. She scored 280.50 points be rose to the podium by a slim margin, a 1.2 difference over fourth-place Arai Matsuri from Japan. The gold and silver medals went to the Chinese duo of Quan Hongchan OLY with 438.20 points and Chen Yuxi OLY with 435.65 points respectively.
𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗬
In the Compound Men’s Individual, Quarter Final, Mohd Juwaidi was brought to a halt due to an equipment issue which allowed Joo Jaehoon from Korea to win 148-135.
𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦
In a dramatic twist to the closing day of Athletics, the Malaysian Contingent garnered a surprise bronze medal through the Women’s 4x100m Relay Team consisting of Azreen Nabila Alias OLY, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli OLY, Nur Afrina Batrisyia and Shereen Samson Vallabouy.
They clocked 45.01s to initially finish fourth, 0.11s behind Bahrain who were eventually disqualified for passing the baton outside the changeover zone. China won the gold medal in 43.39s, while Thailand won the silver in 44.32s.
As for record, it was the first medal for the Malaysian Contingent in the said event in Asian Games since M. Rajamani OLY, Cheryl Dorall, Jacqueline Kleinmann and Rajemah Sheikh Ahmad won bronze medal in the 5th Asian Games Bangkok 1966.
However, the Men’s Relay Team, comprising of Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat, Jonathan Nyepa and Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, was disqualified for lane violation despite finished fifth in 39.19s.
𝗕𝗔𝗗𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗡
In the Men’s Singles, Round of 32, Lee Zii Jia OLY defeated Zefi Costa Gusmao De Jesus Mourinho from Timor Leste 21-0, 21-7. Meanwhile, Ng Tze Yong claimed a stylish win over former World Champion Loh Kean Yew from Singapore 21-12, 21-14.
In the Women’s Singles, Round of 32, the former World Junior Champion Goh Jin Wei advanced to the Round of 16 with a 21-10, 21-13 victory over Thi Anh Thu Vu from Vietnam. Meanwhile, newcomer Letshanaa A. Karupathevan bowed out of the competition after losing to Busanan Ongbamrungphan from Thailand 21-13, 21-10.
In the Women’s Doubles, Round of 32, Pearly Tan Koong Le-Thinaah Muralitharan defeated Jin Yujia- Crystal Wong Jia Ying from Singapore 21-12, 21-16. However, Go Pei Kee-Valeree Siow Zi Xuan succumbed to a 21-9, 21-13 defeat to Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida from Japan.
𝗛𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗬
The Women’s team suffered a 5-0 defeat to Korea.
𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗦𝗛
In the Mixed Doubles, Quarter Final, Mohammad Syafiq Mohd Kamal-Aifa Azman
marched into the Semi Final after defeating Yoo Jaejin-Eum Hwayeong from Korea 2-0.
In the Men’s Singles, Quarter Final, Ng Eain Yow defeated Abdullah Almezayen from Kuwait 3-0.
In the Women’s Singles, Quarter Final, Sivasangari Subramaniam defeated Heo Mingyeong from Korea 3-0.
The OCM extends its best wishes to all the athletes of the Malaysian Contingent!
Dato’ Sieh Kok Chi was born on the 8th of November 1938. After his retirement in 1991, as an Engineer in the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia, Dato’ Sieh chose to continue his involvement, full time, in the field of sports, where his life-long passion was, especially in the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).
Born on 21st March 1949, Y.A.M Tunku Tan Sri Imran is the second son of the late Tuanku Jaafar, an elected monarch of the Negeri Sembilan. Tunku Imran was educated in the UK at the King’s School, Canterbury and studied law at Nottingham University before being called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, London in 1971 and qualifying as a Barrister at Law.