Tunku Imran: New medal target approach surprising and unexpected

PETALING JAYA: It’s surprising ... and rather disappointing.

This was the reaction from former Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar (pic) following the National Sports Council’s (NSC) decision to announce a 27-medal target without specifying the number of gold medals for the Malaysian contingent preparing for the Asian Games from Sept 23-Oct 8 in Hangzhou, China.

The government arm have justified the new approach by saying that it would not put undue pressure on the athletes to perform and besides, some other countries have not set gold-medal targets too.

Malaysia will be represented by 289 athletes, who will compete in 22 out of the 40 sports.

Tunku Imran said one should not paint everyone with the same brush.

“I was surprised when I heard about the target for the Asiad ... actually quite disappointing too,” said Tunku Imran.

“I believe that we have good athletes from several sports for this Asian Games. We are top in squash and bowling in this region but unfortunately, bowling is not contested.

“In sports like hockey, badminton, track cycling, karate, we have good chances to strike gold on the athletes good day.

“Maybe, we are deliberately setting a low target, hoping that we will feel good later, if the athletes strike gold.

“Maybe, the new approach to lower the expectations could work, after all.

“I too believe that we should not put undue pressure on the athletes and sports but we could have kept it general and set one or two gold medal targets without stating the sport or athletes.

“After all, the Asian Games is just before the Olympic Games in Paris next year, and we would expect a strong showing from the athletes.”

For Tunku Imran, the success of Malaysia in the Asiad would depend on the number of sports delivering the goods.

“It’s not good for Malaysian sports, if only a handful sports win medals. Different sports should excel. For some sports, even winning a bronze is a big thing.

The sports that have delivered gold medals in the Asiad since the first edition in Manila 1954 are bowling (12); squash (11); athletics, karate (8); badminton (7); cycling, sailing, sepak takraw (4); wushu (3); swimming, cue sports (1).

Malaysia’s best medal haul was at the 2010 Guangzhou Games - nine golds, 18 silvers and 14 bronzes to finish 10th while their best ranking position was fourth at the 1966 Bangkok Games with a medal haul of 7-5-6.

At the last edition in Indonesia, Malaysia finished 14th overall with a medal haul of 7-13-16 for a total medal tally of 36.

Winning seven golds and a total 36 medals were seen as a failure then as several key officials’ contracts were not renewed and even the Podium Programme was revamped.