THE men’s fours lawn bowls team easily beat Brunei 24-6 at the Friendship Centre in New Clark City today for Malaysia’s fourth gold medal.
Malaysia had targeted five out of the six gold on offer, but one slipped through their hands when the women’s triples could only deliver a bronze.
But today, Fairul Izwan Muin, Idham Amin, Daeng Dhadry Dahasry and Zulhilmie Redzuan never gave Brunei a sniff as they dominated from the start to make up of the fours’ team’s disappointing silver in KL2017, where Malaysia won eight out of nine events.
“We faced many difficulties here, as dust, rain and the uneven ground made it more challenging. But we made amends for being the only team to end up with silver in KL2017,” said Fairul Izwan, who is competing in his fourth Sea Games.
Debutant Idhan Amin, 19, was both stunned and delighted after winning gold in his first Games outing.
“I knew when we raced ahead of Brunei that the gold was going to be ours, but I never dreamt of standing at the top of the podium in my first Sea Games,” he said.
The five makeshift tents at the venue had their roofs removed on Tuesday in anticipation of strong winds, which never came.
However, the athletes were caught off guard when it began to rain heavily.
“As there was no place to take shelter, we ran onto the team bus for cover while waiting for the rain to stop in the qualifier (Tuesday). It was annoying then..., but now they are part of all the sweet memories of our struggles to win gold for the nation,” said Fairul.