PALEMBANG: The Malaysian men’s beach volleyball squad are hoping that they can avoid the four top teams in the grouping draw at the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Asian Games today.
National player Raja Nazmi Saifuddin Raja Hussin, 24, admitted that although Malaysia lagged behind in the sport, they were capable of giving a stiff challenge except to Qatar, China, Indonesia and Japan.
“These four teams are of world standard, not just Asia…especially Qatar who are ranked 10th in the world and are expected to field their aces Cherif Younousse Samba and Tamer Abdel Rasoul. “We hope to avoid these teams in the draw,” he told Bernama when met at the team’s training session at the Beach Volleyball venue at the Jakabaring sports complex here yesterday.
Raja Nazmi, who will be pairing up with Rafi Asruki Nordin, 31, in their second Asian Games outing, said they were “hungry” for a medal because the last time Malaysia won a medal in men’s beach volleyball in an international meet was at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 2001.
For the record, Malaysia finished in 17th place the first time a men’s team took part in the Asian Games at the Doha edition in 2006, followed by ninth place in the last two editions, Guangzhou (2010) and Incheon (2014). – Bernama
