KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — The target for Malaysia to be among the top three countries at the Hanoi SEA Games next month will be discussed in greater detail before an official announcement is made soon, said Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria.

He said OCM would discuss this with the Malaysian contingent’s chef de mission (CDM) to the Hanoi SEA Games, Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad, and the National Sports Council to decide whether the target was realistic or otherwise.

Mohamad Norza personally opined that he did not want to put pressure on the athletes to achieve the target as most of them were struggling with performance issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"For two years, most of them had no competitions. In fact, we at the selection committee for Hanoi faced difficulties in identifying their best personal records in the last two years.

"As such, we went back to as far as 2018 to identify their best personal records to measure ability as well as give the athletes the opportunity to make the Hanoi SEA Games as a start to improve performance before competing in the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games after this,” he said.

Mohamad Norza said this when met by reporters after the launching ceremony of the Malaysian contingent’s official attire for the SEA Games here yesterday.

Previously, Nur Azmi had set the target for Malaysia to be in the top three in terms of the number of medals collected at the biennial games in Vietnam.

Mohamad Norza at the same time expects Malaysia’s position and medal targets to be announced at the Jalur Gemilang (national flag) handover and breaking of fast event with the national contingent this week.

Asked about which sports held the best gold prospects for the country in Vietnam, he said the diving squad is predicted will continue their excellence in Hanoi as the level of national divers was much better than their rivals from other countries.

The national divers are expected to sweep all eight gold medals on offer in the Hanoi Games.

The diving events are scheduled to start earlier, from May 8 to 11, before the 31st edition of the Games officially starts on May 12. The Games end on May 23. — Bernama