AFTER two and a half years of competition inactivity due to Covid-19, it was wonderful to see 584 national athletes in action at the Hanoi Sea Games.
The contingent were able to surpass the 36 gold-medal target after claiming 39 gold, 45 silver and 90 bronze.
The haul, however, was only enough to place Malaysia sixth in the 11-contingent medal table, the lowest the country has finished since the 1983 Singapore edition.
The only nations that finished below Malaysia in Hanoi were minnows Myanmar (seventh), Cambodia (eighth), Laos (ninth), Brunei (10th) and Timor Leste (11th).
However, despite meeting the target, the sporting bodies must work hard as the future does not look bright for Malaysia in several Olympic sports.
While national divers remained dominant in the sport by winning eight gold on offer in Hanoi, Malaysia fell behind in other Olympic sports such as swimming, athletics and archery (recurve).
Although the Malaysian swimmers broke three national records in Hanoi, they could only muster one gold from the 40 on offer in Hanoi.
It was the first time Malaysia had won only one gold in swimming since 1983 and was a far cry from the nine gold Malaysia had won in the sport 13 years ago in Laos.
Swimming is a key sport that offers many gold medals. Singapore finished fifth with a 47-46-73 haul overall thanks to the 21 gold in swimming.
Malaysia met their athletics target of five gold but missed out on several events, while the recurve team failed to record a title in Hanoi.
The Sports Ministry set a lower target of 36 gold due to the omission of 25 events Malaysia had won at the Manila edition.
Among the sports dropped were squash (four gold), lawn bowls (four), both of which are not Olympic sports, as well as figure skating and speed skating (two), rhythmic gymnastics (three) and breaking.
To be fair, Malaysia could have won more Olympic events if the BA Malaysia had sent their top shuttlers.
The focus on strengthening Malaysian athletes in Olympic sports needs to continue.
Malaysia won 30 gold medals from Olympic sports in Hanoi, with diving (eight gold), athletics (five), gymnastics (four) and karate (four) being the biggest contributors.
The other Olympic sports which won gold were cycling, shooting, golf (all two each), swimming, badminton and taekwondo (all one each).
Karate, which made its Olympic debut in Tokyo last year, has not been included for 2024 Paris Games.
On a positive note, 15 out of the 39 gold won in Hanoi were from Sea Games debutants, nine of whom are under 21.
A total of nine national records — three each from swimming, athletics and weightlifting and one games record (shooting) — were broken in Vietnam.
From an organisational perspective, hosts Vietnam pulled off relatively smooth games with much lower complaints of biased judging in subjective sports which was synonymous with the Sea Games in the past.
Cambodia will host the next edition in 2023.
With only one year to go until the next edition of the Sea Games, athletes, coaches, officials and relevant sporting bodies must continue to build on the momentum from Hanoi.