THE Malaysian contingent aims to secure five gold medals as the host of the 10th Asia Pacific Deaf Games (APDG), which commenced yesterday.
Malaysian Deaf Sports Association (MSDeaf) president Ong Shin Ruenn said the target is realistic given that the national athletes will compete on home ground and considering their performance during the centralised training sessions before the event.
“We have conducted centralised training. Initially, our target was lower in preparation for competing in Iran. However, as we are the hosts, we raised the target, confident in our athletes’ abilities.
“The targeted sports are badminton, athletics, bowling and taekwondo, with a total of five gold medals,“ he said after the opening ceremony of the 10th Asia Pacific Deaf Games, officiated by Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh here tonight.
Shin Ruenn noted that the target is higher than Malaysia’s achievements at the previous edition in Taiwan in 2017.
Malaysia assumed the role of host for the deaf games after Iran withdrew due to uncertainty in its domestic situation.
A total of 24 countries, including Malaysia, are participating in the 10th APDG, featuring nine sports – badminton, athletics, football, judo, taekwondo, chess, bowling, table tennis and wrestling – with over 1,130 athletes competing.
