PETALING JAYA, Aug 27 — The Malaysian shooting squad have met their target of four gold medals at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017) even though the team events were not competed this time.
National coach Mohd Sabki Mohd Din said the gold medal haul was a credible feat and the squad had done exceptionally well.
Judging from the improved performance of shooters, he said the six-week intensive training in South Korea in November last year paid off.
Besides the team were also under the guidance of three shooting coaches from South Korea for their SEA Games campaign.
However, he pointed out shooting in KL2017 would be remembered for Johnathan Wong’s giantkiller act in defeating Olympic champion Hoang Xuan Vinh of Vietnam with a new SEA Games record of 238.3 points.
The Subang National Shooting Range was also the memorable venue for Malaysia when Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan became the first Malaysian to clinch the gold in the men’s 50m rifle prone.
Benjamin Khor Cheng Jia also ended the country’s 10-year drought by bagging the men’s individual double trap gold.
Looking ahead, Mohd Sabki was also pleased that young shooters such as Abraham Eng and Nur Izazi Rosli, 17, were also producing commendable results in their SEA Games outing.
The four-gold achievement however could not beat the country best SEA Games shooting performance of six gold when Malaysia last hosted the championships in 2001. — Bernama
