HANGZHOU: It wasn't pressure that got the better of Malaysia's wushu fighter Wong Weng Son who was way off target for a medal in Changquan at the Asian Games on Sunday.
After all the hype about winning Malaysia's first medal at this Asiad, the former world champion could only finish 13th out of 14 participants.
Weng Son, who was ninth at the previous edition in Jakarta four years ago, managed only a score of 9.000.
Homester Sun Peiyuan, as expected, captured gold on 9.840, followed by Indonesia's Marvelo Edgar Xavier (9.786) and Macau's Song Chi Kuan (9.760).
"Compared to my previous outing, I was more satisfied with my performance here. I was not nervous," said Weng Son.
"Maybe in that moment, I wasn't able to nail my degree of difficulty (720) to get a better score.
"Nevertheless, I'm thankful to still be able to compete at the highest level, even at the age of 31.
"I was really hoping to win a medal, but unfortunately it was not meant to be. For that, I'm sorry," said the Seremban-born Weng Son.
When asked if he felt pressured to deliver Malaysia's first medal and whether this would be his final appearance at the Asian Games, Weng Son replied: "Not really, it was everyone's expectation, even mine.
"After my routine, I thought I had done well, but it seemed like I was still short. I will need to look back at the video to identify what went wrong.
"Whether or not this would be my last Asian Games, I don't know. I will make an announcement, but I still have two more competitions this year.
"I will head to Saudi Arabia next month for the World Combat Games, and then the World Championships (in the United States) at the end of the year."
The last time Malaysia won a wushu Asian Games medal was in 2010 in Guangzhou through Tai Cheau Xuan (bronze) in nanquan.