Malaysian Performance – A Recap 5th October 2023

The Malaysian Contingent surpassed the medal target of 27 medals as they turned on the style to accumulate 28 medals as at Thursday 5th October 2023.

The Contingent ended the day with five medals, including Medal No 27, three days before the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 draws to a close.

Squash contributed two gold medals while Medal No 27 for the Contingent was delivered by Martial Arts Karate’s Kata debutante, Lovelly Anne Robberth, following her silver medal feat.

The Malaysian Contingent is 14th overall in the medal standings with 5 golds, 6 silvers and 17 bronzes to show so far for a total of 28 medals. In terms of medals won, Malaysia is ranked 13th.

Following is the recap of the day:

𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗬

The Malaysian Archery squad ended their campaign by landing a bronze on the final day of competition at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre through Men’s Compound trio Alang Ariff Aqil Muhammad Ghazali, Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki & Mohamad Syafiq Md Ariffin.

They defeated Chang Cheng Wei, Chen Chieh Lun and Yang Cheng Jui of Chinese Taipei 228-208 in the medal playoff to provide archery’s solitary medal in Hangzhou. The recurve squad, regular participants at Olympic level, returned home empty-handed.

𝗕𝗔𝗗𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗡

Former World Champions in the Men’s Doubles, Aaron Chia OLY-Soh Wooi Yik OLY remain badminton’s sole flagbearer to advance to the semifinals.

The duo beat China’s Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi 21-18, 19-21 and 21-18.

In the Men’s Singles, Lee Zii Jia OLY did not go down without a fight in the Quarterfinal to India’s HS Prannoy in a 78-minute thriller 16-21, 23-21 and 20-22, while Ng Tze Yong lost to Naraoka Kodai 20–22, 15–21.

Also eliminated were Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah who crashed out after the 15-21, 21-11, 21-7 defeat to world No 2 Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee of Korea.

Earlier in the day, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei were also eliminated in the mixed doubles quarter-finals after losing 21-14, 23-21 to top seeds and defending champions Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong.

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦 𝗞𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘

Tears flowed down her cheeks as Lovelly Anne Robberth ended the day by dedicating the silver medal as a lovely tribute to her late mother, Adriana Pamela Sundangit, who passed away in 2016 at a relatively young age of 38.

Aged 19, the kata exponent who hails from Penampang, Sabah, enjoyed a memorable debut by climbing the podium, losing only to the Olympic Games silver medallist, Kiyou Shimizu, who scored 42.60 points as opposed to Lovelly’s 39.80.

In the Kumite category, Sharmendran Ragonathan lost the bronze medal playoff bout against Kyrgyzstan Nazim Nurlanov. Earlier Sharmendran had won three bouts en route to the medal playoff.

𝗦𝗘𝗣𝗔𝗞𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗥𝗔𝗪

Malaysia will play the Philippines in the Inter-Regu semifinals tomorrow after beating Singapore 2-0. The regu led by tekong Muhammad Zarif Marican and aided by feeder Amirul Zazwan Amir and striker, Mohamad Azlan Alias, beat Singapore’s trio comprising Asy Syariq Mohamad Khalid, Muhammad Ramli Saari and Muhammad Afif Safiee 21-10, 21-6. Earlier the trio beat Vietnam’s Nguyen Hoang Lan, Vuong Minh Chau and Dau Van Hoang.

𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗦𝗛

The squad delivered three medals on their final day with the glitter of gold provided by Ng Eain Yow in the Men’s Singles and Sivasangari Subramaniam in the Women’s Singles.

Eain Yow beat India’s Ghosal Saurav 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 for the team’s second gold medal of the day, shortly after Sivasangari defeated Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk 8-11, 15-13, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 in a 64-minute battle.

With Equestrian’s Dressage Individual gold medallist Mohd Qabil Ambak Mahamad Fathil among the crowd cheering on for the Malaysians, Eain Yow and Sivasangari rose to the occasion.

The two gold medals more than made up for the disappointment as Mohammad Syafiq Mohd Kamal-Aifa Azman missed out on the Mixed Doubles gold after losing to top seeds Dipika Pallikal-Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu of India 10-11, 10-11.

The OCM extends its heartiest congratulations to all the athletes who have made it possible for the Contingent to meet and surpass the medal target of 27 medals. Here’s to more medals!