KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the brace of world titles won recently by Malaysian athletes will drive the country’s quest to top the medal tally at the SEA Games.
He was referring to diver Cheong Jun Hoong’s gold medal at the World Championships in Budapest on Wednesday and before that to cyclist Azizulhasni Awang’s victory in the keirin event at the world meet in April.
Para athletes Abdul Latif Romly and Ziyad Zolkefli also won the long jump and shot put gold medal last week.
All four will compete in next month’s SEA Games.
“Their achievements at the prestigious world level will definitely encourage our athletes (for the SEA Games),” said Khairy.
“I managed to talk to Jun Hoong yesterday and she said she was so focused on herself that she only saw the scoreboard after the last dive.
“It was only then she realised she had won the gold medal,” he said.
“Jun Hoong is a good example to the other athletes. You need to focus on yourselves by not looking left, right and worry about other contenders.
“I also hope this is not a one-off victory. The China wall is a bit broken off and we proved to them we are also their challengers in diving,” he said.
Khairy said he was amazed to see Malaysia have now produced four world champions in just four months.
Starting in April, Azizulhasni made the nation proud by bagging the keirin gold at the World Track Cycling Championships in Hong Kong.
Then the nation rejoiced when Rio Paralympic gold medallists Ziyad and Abdul Latif triumphed within a space of 12 hours at the World Para Athletics Championships in London last weekend.
“There could be another world champion crowned on Sunday morning through Ridzuan Puzi,” he said.
Ridzuan, who bagged the nation’s first gold at the Rio Paralympics last year, will be running in the men’s T36 (cerebral palsy) event in London.
Ridzuan is favourite to defend the 100m gold he won in 2015 in Doha, Qatar, with a time of 12.08. He clocked an Olympic record of 12.07s in Rio last year.
