THE programme for Asian Games under-performers will be reviewed but do not expect a major revamp.
Several sports like hockey, archery (recurve team), shooting and field events in athletics failed to meet the target set for them in the Hangzhou Asian Games as Malaysia wrapped up their campaign with a medal haul of 6-8-18.
National Sports Council (NSC) athlete division director Jefri Ngadirin said the training programmes would be reviewed to put all the Olympic sports back on track.
“We will analyse the weaknesses and areas that need to be rectified. We want them to show progress and will discuss with the respective national bodies on how to move forward,” said Jefri.
The men’s hockey team had set their sight on the gold but finished sixth, one of their worst standings in the Asiad.
Only national shooter Johnathan Wong qualified for the 10m air pistol final in shooting.
In athletics, none of the field athletes – long and triple jumper Andre Anura Anuar; hammer throwers Jackie Wong Siew Cheer, Grace Wong; high jumper Norliyana Kamaruddin; discus throwers Irfan Shamsuddin, Queenie Ting Kung Ni; and pole vaulter Nor Sarah Adi – were anywhere near their best.
The recurve team too failed to get any medals in archery.
“Take hockey for an example, they failed in the Asian Games but it is not the end. We will have to look at the future as we prepare them for the Olympics.
“In shooting, there are already changes with new faces stepping in.
“One of the field event athletes did their personal best but they are young and we can enhance their programmes.
“We can’t immediately brand them as failures.”
Overall though, Jefri said the contingent had done the nation proud despite the absence of track cycling legend Azizulhasni Awang, who was injured.
“We targeted 27 medals because we knew we would lose 12 medals from silat and bowling, which were not contested,” he said.
“But our athletes won 32 medals, past the 27 that we targeted. We were just one short from the seven golds won at the Jakarta Asian Games.
“Only 12 sports contributed medal in Jakarta but in Hangzhou, we had 13 sports. This is a good progress.
“For the Olympic sports, we contributed 18 medals, overall. We had five medals from diving, three from athletics, four from track cycling, one from badminton, one from equestrian, one from artistic gymnastics and three from sailing. We are on the right track.”
