KUALA LUMPUR − The national petanque squad is optimistic that it will be able to surpass the record of two gold medals won at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games five years ago in the 31st edition of the biennial games scheduled to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam from May 12-23.
National coach Zani Lisa Mohamed said he was confident of this as the squad would be competing in a total of eight events compared to four in the 2019 edition in the Philippines.
He said the lack of international tournaments would not jeopardise the potential of the national squad as all the main challengers from competing nations had also made preparations only at the domestic level.
“From my findings and monitoring of the current performance (of the squad), we have the opportunity to create history,” he said during a press conference at the National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Commenting further, Zani said the chances looked bright for getting the gold in four events, namely men’s shooting, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed triples.
He said this was because main challengers Thailand were not focusing on the four events but rather on the men’s and women’s triples.
He said for the men’s shooting event in Hanoi, national petanque athlete Mohamad Nuzul Azwan Ahmad Temizi had the advantage to emerge champion as a major contender from Cambodia would not be competing.
Meanwhile, team manager Mohd Lutfi Othman said the national petanque squad for the Hanoi SEA Games, which features 17 athletes, would continue preparations at the Petanque Arena at Taman Rekreasi Pudu Ulu here after recent training stints in Terengganu and Kuala Selangor.
In the 2019 edition, the national petanque camp met the target of bringing home a gold medal in the men’s triples event besides winning one silver and two bronze while the 2017 edition saw Malaysia grab two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. – Bernama, April 13, 2022
