PALEMBANG: The Malaysian canoe polo squad which emerged as runners-up and won silver in a demonstration event at the Asian Games, is determined to become Asian champions in the next four years.
The Malaysian Canoe Association (MASCA) deputy president, Raja Shahrul Azremel Raja Sahar expressed confidence after witnessing the national canoe polo squad progress to the final of the event.
“Our target in coming to this Asian Games for the demonstration event was only to qualify for the semi-finals, but our boys have exceeded expectations and we succeeded in defeating six-time Asian champions, Taiwan in the semi-finals.
“This has been our best outing in the history of canoe polo for Malaysia so far, and we want to be Asian champions four years from now,” he told Bernama.
According to Raja Shahrul, the average age of the present squad is about 21 years old, and they have the best prospect to clinch gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games that will be held in China when the sport will be made a medal event.
In this regard, Raja Shahrul is appealing to the National Sports Council (NSC) to assist the association and the National Sports Institute (NSI) to help prepare their athletes in terms of training and exposure to international competitions.
“It is very critical for us as we are now pretty much surviving on our own, which includes our trip to Palembang for this Games,” he said.
“We are currently training in Sungai Mati, Muar, Johor to save on costs, as most of our athletes are from Johor,” he added.
In the demonstration event, the national squad beat 2017 Asian champions, Iran 4-3 in the group stage before beating Taiwan 6-3 in the semi-finals.
Nonetheless, in the final yesterday (Wednesday), the national squad lost 2-8 to Japan who took gold.
After this, the squad will be competing in the Asian Championship in Iran next year and the World Championships in Rome, Italy in 2020. — BERNAMA