SINCE silat was introduced in the SEA Games 20 years ago, Malaysia, a giant in the sport, regularly garnered gold medals in it except for the Jakarta Games in 1997 when they did not win any.
However, in Korat, the national squad failed miserably when not one of the 14 exponents, seven of whom emerged as champions at the World Championships in Kuantan, in October, could manage a single gold.
Only Rina Jordana Adnan managed to win a silver while the rest could only bring in six bronzes. Bronze in silat is nothing to shout about as it is automatically awarded to the losing semi-finalists.
Team manager Osman Nok said: “We are very disappointed in not being able to achieve our three-gold target. This result will serve as a good lesson to us.”
However, he also blamed the quality of judging, saying it cost Malaysia several chances of entering the finals.
National Sports Council director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong also voiced similar sentiments, adding that if it (poor quality judging) continued, it would spell the death knell for silat.
“Are we that bad (especially after having dominated the world championships)? I don’t think our exponents did badly. I keep receiving complaints on judging in silat endlessly,” he said. –Bernama
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