NATIONAL strongman Jackie Wong Siew Cheer seized the spotlight with Malaysia adding six gold by late afternoon today to continue its domination as the Sea Games braces for another cliffhanger in the men’s curve sprint at the National Stadium tonight.

Two more gold came from the karate squad through Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan in the women’s below 55kg and R. Sharmendran in the men’s 75kg kumite.

The remaining three were from women athletes – walker Elina Goh in the 10km event, gymnast queen Farah Ann Abdul Hadi and the tenpin bowling women’s trio of Esther Cheah, Shalin Zukifli and Sin Li Jane.

With more medals to be decided tonight including in swimming, athletics and karate, Malaysia remains at the top with 46 gold, 35 silver and 26 bronze. Trailing behind are Vietnam (22), Singapore (21), Thailand and Indonesia (15), the Philippines (8) and Myanmar (4).

Strapping Wong gave himself a belated birthday gift with the hammer throw gold and shouted with delight as his fourth throw soared over the Sea Games mark to a record 65.90m in his tussle against Thailand’s silver placed Kittipong Boonmawan who cleared 65.49m.

In winning the event for Malaysia after 16 years, the Sarawakian, who turned 25 on July 4, rewrote his own national record three times this year, his best was 65.34m before this.

The National Stadium in Bukit Jalil will come alive again tonight with hopes of Khairul Hafiz Jantan pulling off a sprint double after bagging the 100m yesterday night. A second Malaysian, G. Aravinn Thevarr, Thailand’s Jirapong Meenapra and Filipino Anthony Beram are in the final eight.

In the women’s 200m event are Malaysia’s Husniah Zulkifli and favourite Le Tu Chinh of Vietnam who upset the field yesterday for the 100m gold.

Farah Ann Abdul Hadi was a class of her own in retaining the women’s individual floor gold with 13.45 points leaving Filipina Kaitlin Cera De Guzman and Indonesian Rifda Irfanaluthfi to settle for the silver and bronze.     

Rifda was declared the gold winner in the balance beam with 13.125 points following a protest over the scoring by Indonesia. Malaysia’s Tan Ing Yueh was named the initial winner with 13.1 points over the Indonesian on 13.025 points.

In women’s badminton, Malaysia ousted Indonesia 3-0 to set up a final clash against Thailand tomorrow. The Thais beat Singapore 3-1 in the semifinals.

Squash is set to add a gold tomorrow from the all-Malaysia mixed final between Ryan Neville Pasqual and Andrea Lee Jia Qi squaring off against Sanjay Singh Chal and S. Sivasangari. – Bernama, August 23, 2017.