YOUTH and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican yesterday apologised on behalf of the national contingent for not meeting the three-medal target at the recent Tokyo Olympics.
In a virtual press conference, Reezal said: "As Sports Minister and head of the Malaysian contingent, I sincerely apologise to the people of Malaysia for not meeting the three-medal target at the Tokyo Olympics.
"The gold medal continues to remain elusive."
Following the conclusion of the Games on Sunday, Malaysia equalled their second-best haul at the 2012 London Games with one silver medal and one bronze.
National track cyclist Azizulhasni Awang won the silver in the men's keirin event, while men's doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik delivered the bronze.
Five years ago in Rio, Malaysia won four silver medals and one bronze.
Reezal admitted the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic over the past 18 months were one of the reasons why most athletes could not bring out their best at the Games.
He said Malaysian athletes only competed in 32 international tournaments last year out of the 89 that was approved, and only 27 this year.
Reezal, who inherited the Podium programme from former sports ministers Khairy Jamaluddin and Syed Saddiq Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, believes it is high time to set up a new dedicated programme focusing only on sports that will potentially bring home Olympic gold medals.
"In 2016, Khairy Jamaluddin launched the Podium Programme, which became Podium 2.0 under Syed Saddiq.
"I introduced the Road to Tokyo programme, but I believe it is high time to set up a special dedicated Olympic programme, moving away from the existing podium initiative.
"Together with the NSC and other stakeholders, we need to study and improve the programme further in line with our National Sports Vision 2030.
"We need something long term not just for one Olympic cycle but two or three if possible," added Reezal.
Concluding his overall assessment of the contingent's performance in Tokyo, Reezal said: "Cycling and badminton were definitely our best performers in Tokyo. It was really unfortunate for Azizulhasni to miss out on the gold, but I can say the silver won is of the weight of gold.
"Our shuttlers also did well, and I am super proud of them.
"We had expected more from diving, but they fail to match up to their previous showings.
"I don't want to go too much into details, but I have already spoken to Malaysia Swimming secretary-general Mae Chen to look at ways moving forward.
"We may not have met our three-medal target, but we can still take heart from our athletes' performances at the Games.
"We also achieved a few milestones. For the first time, 13 out of our 30-member squad were Olympic newcomers. Of the 30, 18 were female athletes.
"In the end, we finished 74th out of 206 countries, No 15 in Asia, No 13 among Commonwealth countries and fourth in Southeast Asia."
Reezal also singled out sprinter Azreen Nabila Alias, swimmer Phee Jinq En and archer Syaqiera Mashayikh for setting new personal bests in their respective events in Tokyo.
Joining Reezal at the press conference were Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail, chef de mission (CDM) Datuk Lee Chong Wei and deputy CDM Datuk Nazifuddin Najib.