KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The national petanque squad aiming for a gold medal at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games from May 5-17 are optimistic of success to surpass their achievement at the previous edition in Hanoi.

National coach Ruhaizal Abu Amin said the confidence stems from the national line-up for the biennial games, including the pair of Nur Ain Syuhada Mohd Asri and Nur Thahira Tasnim Abdul Aziz, who won silver in women’s double at the 2022 World Petanque Championship.

He said the Malaysian Petanque Federation had chosen the best for the games in Cambodia through a strict selection procedure.

“I feel confident (about bettering the results in Hanoi) because this time we are combining athletes from Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsula, and we have gone through two stringent selection processes.

“So far we have set a one-gold target but the athletes have their personal medal targets,” he said at the national petanque squad training session at the Pudu Ulu Petanque Arena here today.

Earlier, Malaysian chef de mission for the Cambodia Games Datuk Mohd Nasir Ali and his deputy Datuk Shalin Zulkifli visited the national petanque squad and gave them words of encouragement.

Meanwhile, Nur Ain, who won a bronze in the individual event at the world championship in Denmark last May, does not feel nervous even though she will be making her SEA Games debut.

The 26-year-old Pahang athlete, who will be competing in the women’s triple, said the experience of playing at the world and Asian levels would come in handy in Cambodia.

“I’m confident because I’ve played at the world and Asian levels and saw what other players were like,” she, adding that Cambodian and Thai athletes would be her main challengers.

Commenting on the level of compatibility with her teammates, Nur Ain said: “I was a little worried but that’s okay now because when you play together you have to help each other to achieve success. Nothing is impossible.”

At the last SEA Games in Hanoi, the national petanque squad won one silver in the women’s double and two bronzes in the men’s triple and mixed double, thus failing to repeat the achievement of one gold, one silver and two bronzes in the 2019 edition in Manila.

The national petanque squad of 12 men and 12 women athletes are scheduled to leave for Cambodia on May 4 and will be in action from May 6-13 at the Petanque Complex, Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. — Bernama