The Malaysian contingent of athletes at the Hangzhou Asian Games will face larger scrutiny today as there are medal hopefuls in contention to deliver Malaysia’s first medal at the event.
First in line will be a bunch of e-sports athletes, as the Malaysian Arena Of Valor team will be facing off against the home nation, China in the finals of the Arena Of Valor event.
Malaysia guaranteed a silver medal
The Malaysian Arena Of Valor team managed to punch their tickets to the finals yesterday after winning their semifinals against Vietnam 2-0.
Although their appearance in the finals have already guaranteed at least a silver medal for the Malaysian contingent, the Malaysian team is quietly confident of their chances of at least giving China a run for their money.
According to team manager Wong Kang Woon, China holds a slight advantage due to them not only being the hosts, but also the developers of Arena of Valor.
“However, the version played here is a blend of the original and international versions. So, it is untrue to claim that China has a full advantage.
“We had two weeks of intensive centralised training before arriving for the Games. We have four pro players actively involved in the leagues, so it’s not easy to have them all train together all the time,” said Wong, New Straits Times reports.
Other than the Arena Of Valor team, Malaysia is also in the running for medals in other competitions.
Asnawi Iqbal Adam has a chance of adding another medal to Malaysia’s tally as he is currently third in the men’s ILCA 4 category standings with only one more race remaining.
Meanwhile, Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif is on track to deliver a gold in the women’s ILCA 6 sailing event but the medal deciding race will only be held tomorrow.
The wushu and track cycling teams from Malaysia are also performing in their events today, which bolsters Malaysia’s hope of adding to their medal tally from these events as well.
