KUALA LUMPUR: NATIONAL sepak takraw team captain Syahir Rosdi has apologised for Malaysia's poor performance in the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games team regu event which ended today.
A disappointed Syahir said the team had focused too much on beating Thailand causing them to lose focus on the bigger picture.
"We would like to apologise to all our supporters who expected us to do better. This is all we could manage (today)," said the tekong.
"Whatever it is people say, as captain I take responsibility.
"We took Indonesia lightly as we had beaten them easily before this."
Syahir added that the younger players in the team need more experience before they are capable of challenging for honours at this level.
"We have a number of young players in the squad who contributed to our poor performance.
"They have potential but need more experience and need to learn how to cope with pressure and be mentally strong, especially when we are in difficult situations."
Malaysia were forced to settle for bronze together with Brunei after suffering a shock 2-1 defeat to Indonesia and 3-0 loss to Thailand in the round robin format competition.
Reporting by By Azlan Muhammad Zain (Harian Metro) and Naqib Mohd Said (Berita Harian)