THAILAND are the supreme leaders of sepak takraw, and Malaysia are nowhere near their standard.
In Hanoi, Malaysia finished bridesmaids to the Thais in both the regu and team events.
The two silver, however, from the men is still a commendable effort, considering the infighting between two sepak takraw bodies in Malaysia before the Sea Games.
The team are playing in Hanoi under the Olympic Council of Malaysia's banner.
However, tekong Zarif Marican Ibrahim Marican warned that other countries are fast closing the gap on Malaysia.
Although the national team overcame Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, Malaysia cannot afford to be complacent anymore.
"We can see the level of the competitiveness here; every team was fighting hard to win medals. If we are not careful, other countries will catch up soon.
"We have to learn from our mistakes here and do better in the future," said the 20-year-old.
Zarif hopes to lead Malaysia to a gold medal in the Sea Games one day.
"I am young, and I still have a lot to improve on. Of course, the intention here was to beat Thailand for one of the gold medals, but it did not go as planned.
"We will try again in the next edition."
Malaysia continued their campaign in the double event yesterday by beating Indonesia 2-0 at the Hoang Mai Gymnasium.
Aidil Azman Azwawi-Noraizat Nordin defeated Indonesia's Hardiansyah Muliang-Saiful Rijal 21-19, 21-8.
The win puts the pair on track for a semi-final spot. They will take on Cambodia to decide Group E champions today.