Malaysia Achieve Minimum 40 Gold Target Through Former F1 Driver

PALEMBANG, Indonesia, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian contingent at the ongoing Indonesia 26th SEA Games in Palembang and Jakarta have achieved their minimum gold target. Before coming to Indonesia, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek had announced that Malaysia's initial gold target from 40 to 45 gold medals. On Friday, the 40th gold medal was achieved through Alex Yoong in the water ski men's overall category. A former Malaysian Formula One (F1) driver, Alex, stunned the spectators with his superb skills at the water skiing venue at the Jakabaring Sports Complex. "I am happy to be part of it (Malaysian medal haul). It is something that I'm proud off. Actually, I did not expect that I can still win medals for my country in this event," said the 35-year-old Alex, who last won a silver medal at Jakarta SEA Games in 1997. Alex added that he just started training for this year's SEA Games the last five month and did not expect that he would still ve able to contribute medals for Malaysia. The silver and bronze medal were won by Indonesian athletes Muhammad Zahidi and Fajar Eka Samudra with 2,484.87 and 1,366.39 points respectively. "I thought that I started very average in the slalom compared to Thursday's slalom individual event. However, the tricks was my key event for my success Friday," he said. Alex used to water ski on a regular basis from 1990 to 1995 and then he stopped the following year to concentrate on F1 racing. Earlier, Alex's sister Philippa claimed her second gold medal in water skiing after dominating the women's overall category. She scored the highest point in the slalom event with 1,000 points, while in the tricks and jumping event, she scored 966.94 and 532.85 points for a total of 2,499.79 points. Indonesia's Gritiya Endhar Pupul took the silver medal with 1,916.92 points and Singapore's Christina Sasha claim the bronze with 1,024.14 points. Malaysian water skiers contributed four gold medals, three silver and a bronze for the nation's medal tally. -- BERNAMA Malaysia