The men’s goalball
team created history after won against five-time ASEAN Para Games champion
Thailand 9-5 in the final at the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition
Centre (MiTEC) on 23 September 2017.
In the final match,
Muhammad Amirul and Muhammad Haiqal scored early goals to help Malaysia lead
5-2 on the half-time. Noppadon Poosrisom and Siwarin Phonphirun closed the gap,
but Malaysia ultimately pulled away to claim a historic win.
For the record,
Malaysia had lost to Thailand in the final at the 2005 APG (Manila,
Philippines), 2007 (Korat,Thailand), 2011 (Palembang, Indonesia), 2014
(Myanmar), and 2015 (Singapore).
Before reach into the
final match, Malaysia has to compete with six other countries. The national
team was do the best by winning all six round robin matches. Their journey
begin with defeating Laos (16-6), Thailand (13-7), Philippines (11-1),
Indonesia (10-0), Myanmar (15-5), and Cambodia (10-0). Malaysia collecting 18
points as the group’s champion and faced Laos in the semi-final that get the
fourth placed in the group with 9 points. In that match, national team win 13-3
while another semi-final Thailand beating Indonesia 15-5.
The gold medal
finally came after a 12 years wait as the Malaysian have for long played second
fiddled to the Thais. For the information, goalball players compete with their
eyes covered with a piece of cloth, relying solely on their hearing senses to
attack and defend.
It was the 90th
and last gold medal that won by the Malaysian Contigent in ASEAN Para Games
Kuala Lumpur 2017.
“Every players in the
team had pledged to break Thailand’s domination by claiming the gold for the
first time in 12 years and they kept good of the promise”, said Malaysia’s
coach Abdul Kadir Raham.
“The players spent a
lot of time in training to ensure they can match the might of the Thais. But
all the sacrifice were worth. We are all excited with this victory as we have
shown that nothing is impossible”, Malaysia’s captain Husnaini Samsudin said.
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