Mission To Hunt For National Contingent Medal Starts

From Zuriati Zulmi INCHEON (South Korea), Sept 19 (Bernama) -- As soon as the curtains for the 17th Asia Games rise in Incheon, South Korea on Friday, the national focus will surely be on the ability of the Malaysian athletes to meet the prescribed eight gold medal target set by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). For the athletes, all want to erase the sad episode of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and replace it with a new tale to revive Malaysia's sports image. Furthermore, also together with the national challenge this time, is the aim of wanting to create a bit of brightness for the nation which has been afflicted by several heart-rending tragedies including the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, which is still a mystery, and MAS Flight MH17, enveloping the nation. Headed by Daniyal Balagopal Abdullah, the contingent comprising 280 athletes and 141 officials will begin the medal quest in 25 of 36 on offer at the Games which start on Sept 20. The national contingent is taking part in archery, athletics, badminton, bowling, aquatic, diving, boxing, weight lifting, cricket, cycling, equestrian, golf, gymnastic, hockey, kabaddi, karate, rugby, sailing, sepak takraw, shooting, squash, ping pong, taekwondo, beach volley ball and wushu. The national athletes would go into action hunting for medals on Sept 20 in several events including track cycling, wushu, shooting and rhythmic swimming. Although the target of eight gold medals is lower than the achievement in Guangzhou, China in 2010, but for the whole sport administration of sport including the National Sports Council (MSN), National Sport Institute (ISN), OCM and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin himself, it is a responsible and realistic target. The target is based on the latest evaluation of performances of the national athletes and the strengths of their respective opponents, other than fixing targets on several non-traditional gold medal sports which are seen able to be met by the contesting athletes. Other than achieving the medal target, the national contingent is entrusted with bringing home encouraging results in personal achievement records of individual athletes who have been given their yardsticks by their sport management bodies. This means there will no longer be the term 'going on holiday' for all national athletes because they have to return, even without medals, to table their performances for the sake of their careers as national athletes. In the Asian Games, Malaysia won four gold in Hiroshima, Japan (1994), five gold in Bangkok, Thailand (1998), six gold in Busan, South Korea (2002), eight gold in Doha, Qatar (2006) and nine gold in Guangzhou, China (2010), which was also Malaysia's best achievement. Squash was the best contributor of medals with three gold, one silver and two bronze and followed by karate (two gold, two silver and one bronze) and bowling (2-1-1). This 17th edition of the Games which ends on Oct 4 is the third time South Korea are hosting after 1986 in Seoul and 2002 in Busan. The glittering festival will begin with an official opening tomorrow at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium involving almost 13,000 athletes and officials and covered by almost 7,000 electronic and print media personnel from 45 participating nations. There are 49 competition venues and 48 training venues to be used during the festival. Ten competition venues are in six cities in the Gyeonggi district, two in Chungju and the rest in Incheon. The slogan for the 2014 Asian Games is 'Diversity Shines Here', highlighting the diversity of Asian Nations which are beautiful with history, culture and religion. The mascots for the Asia Games festival this time are three seals named Barame, Chumuro and Vichuan. --BERNAMA