I'm sorry for contingent's failure, says Megat Zulkarnain

NEW CLARK CITY (Philippines), Dec 11 -- Chef de mission Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin has apologised for Malaysia’s failure to meet their 70-gold target at the 30th SEA Games but said certain factors had worked against the national contingent.

He said the national contingent management would conduct a post-mortem on the dismal outcome, with Malaysia winning 56 gold, 58 silver and 72 bronze medals to finish fifth in the regional Games.

“I would also like to apologise for the contingent’s failure at the SEA Games and to the people of Malaysia who are watching this live telecast,” he told a post-competition press conference here today.

He hoped that all parties, especially the national sports associations and athletes themselves, would accept the results.

Megat Zulkarnain said Malaysian athletes had failed to deliver for various reasons, including over-confidence in sports like archery, sailing and tenpin bowling where Malaysia were the defending champions.

He expressed disappointment over the quality of judging at the Games and highlighted the cases of 110m hurdler Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian and rhythmic gymnast Izzah Amzan, who were said to have been unfairly denied the gold medal.

"Various problems were encountered due to location factors, so the contingent management had to be divided into three main clusters. The problem was compounded by the poor management of the organisers, where much of the information was not received or streamlined.

"Schedule changes for many of the events, as well as flight delays due to Typhoon Kammuri (which hit the Philippines during the Games) affected the focus of the athletes," said Megat Zulkarnain.

Also present at the press conference were his deputy Nurul Huda Abdullah, National Sports Council director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail and Olympic Council of Malaysia secretary-general Datuk Nazifuddin Mohd Najib.

Megat Zulkarnain, who is also the secretary-general of the Malaysian National Silat Federation, urged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to work with national sports stakeholders to make early preparations for the 2021 SEA Games.

This follows the announcement by the Olympic Council of Vietnam that they will stage between 36 and 40 sports in the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi.

Hosts the Philippines emerged overall champions with 149 gold, 117 silver and 119 bronze medals, followed by Vietnam (96-85-104) and Thailand (92-102-122).

The Malaysian contingent, which comprised 773 athletes and 339 officials, participated in 52 of the 56 sports held in three clusters, namely Manila, Clark and Subic.

The closing ceremony of the Games, which began on Nov 24, will be held at the New Clark City Sports Stadium tonight.

-- BERNAMA