The gold medals came from the combat events – through Ahmad Shahril Zailudin (men’s Class D 60-65kg), Mohd Al Jufferi Jamari (men’s Class E 65-70kg) and Mohd Fauzi Khalid (men’s Class F 70-75kg).
Shahril delivered the first gold by defeating Indonesia’s Sapto Purnomo 5-0 in the final before Jufferi made sure the team met their two-gold target when he defeated Vietnam’s Nguyen Duy Chien 4-1.
Fauzi then made sure the silat team would surpass the target by adding another gold medal after trouncing Katahat Raksapon of Thailand 5-0.
Malaysia had another finalist on the last day of the silat competition but Siti Rahmah Mohd Nasir could only bag a silver after losing 5-0 to Indonesian’s Amelia Roring in the women’s Class E bout.
Team manager Ismail Syed Mohamed described their efforts as courageous because they also had to put up with the hostile home crowd.
“There was never an easy fight today, especially against the Indonesian exponents,” he said.
“But our athletes stayed calm under pressure and that was the key to their success.”
Ismail also urged his team to be aware of the great strides made by exponents from Vietnam and even the Philippines.
“They are catching up fast,” he said.
“We could have won more gold medals if our top exponents – Emy Latip and Mohd Hafiz Mahari _ had qualified for the finals.
“Overall, it was a good performance.”
Emy lost to Vietnam’s Ngyen Thi Gang in the quarter-final of the women’s Class C (55-60kg) while Hafiz, the gold medallist in Laos two years ago, went down to Thailand’s Anothai Choopeng in the men’s Class A (45-50kg) semi-final bout.
Sourced from http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/11/18/seagames/9931432&sec=seagames
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