MALAYSIA continued to languish in seventh place overall at the end of the fourth day of the 2023 SEA Games, with 15 gold, 15 silver and 32 bronze medals.

Yesterday’s gold medal harvest was the best daily total so far, at five, with two coming from track and field, and one each from diving, swimming and snooker.

The first gold of the day came from Muhammad Syafiq Puteh in the 3m men’s springboard event, and this was followed by national runners Shereen Samson Vallabouy and Umar Usman, in the women’s and men’s 400m events.

Umar’s gold came with a bonus, he set a new national record of 46.34s, breaking the previous record of 46.41s by Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin at the Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Brunei in July 2001.

The swim team finally notched their first gold through Khiew Hoe Yean after four days of competition at the Morodok Techo National Aquatic Centre in Phnom Penh while national snooker player Moh Keen Hoo delivered the fifth and last gold of the day in the 6-Red men’s individual event.

As for the overall standings, Thailand, who began in third place, rose to the top with 40 gold, 30 silver and 45 bronze medals.

Vietnam remained second with 39 gold, 39 silver and 46 bronze, while Cambodia dropped to third with 39-39-39. – Bernama, May 10, 2023.