PETALING JAYA: Malaysia wrapped up their Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games campaign with nine gold medals, matching their best haul since the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
But did they really achieve the overall target set for the Malaysian contingent?
In previous major multi-sport Games, Malaysia had often focused mainly on a gold medal target.
This time, however, the target went beyond just six golds, with the contingent also aiming for seven silvers and 20 bronzes for an overall haul of 33 medals.
After 16 days of competition, Malaysia could still hold their heads high after finishing with nine golds, seven silvers and 16 bronzes for a total of 32 medals, just one short of the overall target.
For this edition, most of the sports Malaysia had counted on to deliver managed to do so, with e-sports also chipping in.
Squash proved to be one of the biggest contributors with four titles, while also securing two qualification spots for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Badminton, however, had to settle for a solitary bronze, while archery and shooting returned home empty-handed.
For National Sports Council director-general Jefri Ngadirin, the performance was still something to be proud of, especially as Malaysia had not reached the nine-gold mark at the Asian Games for 16 years.
"The achievement at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 is also a positive indication that the country’s high-performance sports development efforts are on the right track.
"For the NSC, this achievement is not the end. It serves as a catalyst for us to continue strengthening athlete development programmes, improve the quality of preparations and build a pool of athletes capable of competing consistently on the international stage," Jefri said in a statement.
In the overall standings, Malaysia finished 11th among 45 competing nations and were second among Southeast Asian countries, behind Thailand, who collected 18 golds, 13 silvers and 21 bronzes.
Malaysia also finished well ahead of Indonesia and Vietnam, who had placed second and third overall respectively at the Thailand SEA Games last December.
Indonesia could only manage five golds, 11 silvers and 23 bronzes in Aichi-Nagoya to finish 16th overall, followed by the Philippines in 17th with four golds, nine silvers and 16 bronzes.
Vietnam, who have regularly been among the leading nations at the SEA Games, had to settle for three golds, three silvers and 19 bronzes.
The results offer some encouragement for Malaysia as attention now turns to next year’s SEA Games on home soil.
"We celebrate today’s success, but at the same time, we have to look ahead. Every success must serve as a foundation for us to work harder, address our weaknesses and build towards greater achievements in the future.
"Our next focus is to keep this momentum going, starting with the target of emerging overall champions at the 2027 SEA Games on home soil before stepping up preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where we are determined to deliver Malaysia’s first gold medal," he added.
