KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — The national gymnastics squad needs to be smart in dealing with pressure when performing in front of the home crowd, in their bid to defend their gold medals at the 29th SEA Games Kuala Lumpur 2017 (KL2017) this August.

Team manager Azmi Hassan said each squad member should motivate themselves to ease the pressure during the competition.

He said the atmosphere would be different when compared to other competitions abroad as the number of supporters would be greater and the cheers would be louder at the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC).

“What I am most worried about is the support and cheers of the crowd... they (gymnasts) are not used to that. Normally, abroad, there are not that many cheers. I’m afraid they would not be able to cope with the pressure, especially the women gymnasts.

“The challenge and pressure is undeniably great. We want to at least defend the medals we won in Singapore, or do better. We want the trust and support of all Malaysians,” he told a press conference at the National Sports Council here, today.

At the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, the national gymnastics squad clinched three gold medals, namely through the women’s team event —  featuring Tracie Ang, Farah Ann, Tan Ing Yueh, Nur Eli Ellina, Siti Nur Bahirah and Lavinia Jayadev; as well as individual medals from Tan Ing Yueh (uneven bars) and Farah Ann Abdul Hadi (floor exercise).

Azmi said all the men and women gymnasts had just finished a three-week training stint in Australia and Japan.

He said although some gymnasts were injured, there was no need for panic as the injuries suffered were mild and common in the sport.

Commenting on the country’s artistic gymnastics squad, he said the men’s team was scheduled to go to the Universaide Sports event in Taiwan as a guest team from August 4 to 10 as final preparation for KL2017.

Meanwhile, the women’s artistic gymnastics coach Ng Shu Wai said all the women gymnasts would begin training for the SEA Games at MITEC.

“They will practise on the podium... the podium is only used in international competitions. In terms of preparation, everything is going well. The five athletes are training together, only Lavinia is training in the United Kingdom.

“I hope she can return to Malaysia before August 1 to practise at MITEC because we want to build strategy, cooperation and compatibility among them.

“I want all of them to remain positive until the end of the event,” he said. — Bernama