MANILA, Dec 8 — There was no gold in the collection but still the Malaysian Fencing Federation (MFF) is glad that the national squad surpassed expectations at the 30th SEA Games here.
MFF president Rusni Abu Hassan said the two silvers and one bronze won by the team had exceeded the target of two bronze medals.
“I think 50 per cent of the squad are new faces and still young. My plan was to give them exposure and prepare them for the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi.
“They should be better prepared then,” she told reporters at the World Trade Centre here today.
Malaysia failed to win any medal on the final day of fencing competition today.
Rusni said she was pleased with the performance of the fencers, especially senior athlete Joshua Koh I-Jie.
Joshua won silver in the men’s individual epee to improve on his bronze-winning effort in the Kuala Lumpur Games two years ago.
Rusni said going by the progress shown by Joshua, the Kuala Lumpur athlete has a fair chance of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“I hope he would continue to train (hard) because he has a chance of making it to the Olympics. The pre-Olympics qualification will be held in Seoul, South Korea after April 15 next year.
“I will do my best to help him in these four months,” she said. — Bernama
