NILAI: With one gold in the bag, Fatehah Mustapa is off to a good start to her target of four after winning the Sea Games women's team sprint title at the Nilai Velodrome on Sunday.
Fatehah and Farina Shawati Adnan finished ahead Indonesia in the final after timing 34.671s having trailed for the first half of the race with the latter finishing in 35.211s.
The Malaysian pair earlier set a new national record of 34.140s in the qualifying round.
Fatehah, 28, is also down to race in the individual sprint, keirin and 500m time trial as she bids to better her three-gold haul in 2011.
"I have a target of four gold medals and at the last Sea Games I competed in I won three gold so I'm going for one better," said 2013 Asian sprint and 2012 Asian keirin champion Fatehah.
"I want to contribute to the country's tally, especially on home ground. I have never done four events before so I hope I get can win all of them. This is a good start."
Fatehah was disappointed not to have improved on their qualifying time, which she said ranks among Asia's best.
"We are a bit disappointed we didn't improve on our qualifying time, there was a technical problem at the start," said Fatehah, who had to work hard to overhaul the Indonesians.
"We are pleased to have broken the national record because this time is actually of Asian level which shows our competitiveness. Hopefully we can do it again at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games next year."
The women's team sprint gold was one of three won on the opening day of the track programme with Irwandie Lakasek winning the men's scratch race while Malaysia also won the men's team sprint.
Malaysian trio Shariz Efendi Shahrin, Fadhil Zonis and Khairil Nizam Rasol clocked 44.776 seconds to beat Thailand (45.735) in the men's team sprint final with Indonesia taking bronze ahead of Singapore.
They were just a fraction of a second away from breaking the national record of 44.725 set by Josiah Ng, Azizulhasni Awang and Rizal Tisin at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"The time is the best we have ever done and it's just unfortunate that we didn't break the national record," said Shariz. "Hopefully, we will get it the next time, maybe at the Asian Championships early next year."