MANILA: The national contingent had another productive outing at the Manila SEA Games by bagging seven gold medals today.
Yeoh Li Tian gave Malaysia a roaring start by becoming the country’s first chess gold medallist in Games history, edging Vietnam’s defending champion Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son on tiebreak.
Bowler Timmy Tan added gold No 2 at Coronado Lanes in Starmall EDS to retain the men’s singles crown, scoring 1,334 pinfalls to beat Thailand’s Annop Arromsaranom by three pins.
Singaporean Cheah Ray Han took home the bronze (1,316).
Further victories came in squash – via Rachel Arnold, who beat Chan Yiwen in an all-Malaysian women’s singles final – and gymnastics.
Farah Ann Hadi aced the uneven bars event while Tan Fu Jie was successful in defending his men’s pommel horse title.
Men’s singles squash player Addeen Idrakie later followed in Rachel’s footsteps, defeating home favourite Robert Andrew Garcia 11-7, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5 in the final.
The women’s short-track speed skating relay team (3,000m) of Dione Tan, Anja Chong, Ashley Chin and Kynie Chan capped a good day by winning gold with a time of 4:52.235s.
The quartet finished ahead of Indonesia and Singapore to ensure Malaysia retained the title won two years ago in KL.