14th ASEAN UNIVERSITY GAMES: Malaysia target 80 gold medals

HOSTS Malaysia are aiming for their best medal haul at the 14th Asean University Games on Dec 11-21 even if they have had to become more frugal in their spending in preparation for the biennial event.

Malaysian Universities Sports Council (Masum) chairman Prof Dr Omar Osman said a budget of RM28 million allocated by the Higher Education Ministry is all they have to work with in preparing athletes, venues and other organisational requirements.

"Although the amount seems high, the better part of the budget has gone to meet organisations costs such as for venues, medics, equipment and other items. We have managed to stay within the budget and we are confident of emerging as overall champions," said Dr Omar after a main committee meeting at Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang on Monday.

Malaysia are looking at an ambitious return of 80 gold medals with the guaranteed participation of a number of national athletes after only returning from the 2006 Games in Vietnam with a haul of seven gold, 19 silver and 37 bronze medals.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who chaired the meeting, said he was assured by Masum that the 498-strong national contingent will show a marked improvement.
"The athletes have undergone intensive training to ensure they can perform to the their best.

"We hope to become a contingent who are feared and respected among other competitors and I have been given a guarantee that Malaysia would definitely do better than the last time," he said.

This will be the third time Malaysia are playing hosts to the Games after 1984 at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi and 1993 at Universiti Teknologi Mara in Shah Alam.

This time, 1,818 athletes from 10 countries will compete in 22 sports. Myanmar will be the notable absentee although that will partly be made up by the debut appearance of Timor Leste.

NST