KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Sepaktakraw Federation (PSM) is targeting as many gold medals as possible in the men's sepak takraw events at the 2027 SEA Games in Malaysia.
PSM president Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan said the advantage of being the host could provide a boost to the Golden Tigers to continue their recent run of excellence, including at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand and the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan.
"Next year, the SEA Games will be held in the country, and it will certainly be a major challenge for us as hosts, particularly in maintaining our titles.
"However, we believe playing on home soil in front of large crowds will provide us with a significant added advantage as we seek to win as many gold medals as possible at next year's SEA Games," he said after the launch of the Sepak Takraw League here last night.
Malaysia previously achieved a sensational feat by bringing home two gold medals from the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand through the men's team regu and men's regu events.
The excellent momentum continued when the national squad won the men's team regu event at the 2026 Sepak Takraw World Cup here last May, before ending a 36-year gold medal drought in the men's team regu event at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games last month.
Meanwhile, Mohd Sumali said PSM had proposed that Malaysia contest four sepak takraw events at the biennial Games, namely team regu, regu, doubles and quadrant.
However, he said the proposal was still subject to the final decision following discussions with the organisers, while player selection would also be assessed based on performance and suitability.
In an effort to increase Malaysia's chances of winning gold, Mohd Sumali said the country also needed to pay greater attention to the quadrant event, which was increasingly becoming a focus among rival countries such as Indonesia and Myanmar.
He said the selection of suitable players, as well as tactical and strategic aspects, needed to be given special attention to ensure Malaysia could put up a strong challenge in the event.
The 2027 SEA Games will be held in Sarawak, Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur from Sept 18 to 29.
– BERNAMA