KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Petanque Federation (MPF) is targeting one gold medal at the Philippines SEA Games following the decision of the host to have only four events in competition compared to seven in the Kuala Lumpur edition.
MPF deputy president, Wan Daud Wan Ismail said the association would ensure Malaysian athletes gave their best performance to claim more gold medals while defending the doubles event it won in 2017 SEA Games.
“Preparations will be further enhanced to defend what we won before and even to pick up more medals as our young athletes have almost attain world champion standard before,” he told a media conference on the 2019 MPF Cup National Petanque Championship here on Tuesday.
The national tournament will be held from April 27 to 28 at Petanque Arena, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Mohd Said Sports Complex in Seremban to select players to represent the country in the Philippines SEA Games in December.
He said the selection round is compulsory for all aspiring players as well as the 12 athletes who had represented the country before.
The Philippines SEA Games will be featuring four petanque events namely men’s and women’s doubles as well as men’s and women’s triple.
In the last SEA Games, Malaysia as SEA Games host, won two gold medal in petanque via Muhamad Hafizuddin Mat Daud in the men’s singles as well as the men’s doubles through Saiful Bahri Musmin and Syed Akmal Fikri Syed Ali. – Bernama
