MALANG: The national contingent finished third place at the Asean University Games in Indonesia yesterday, winning 38 gold, 47 silver and 62 bronze medals.
Their performance exceeded the 35 gold target set by the Higher Education Ministry.
Karate athletes delivered the 35th and 36th gold medals on Friday and yesterday. The compound archery squad added the final two golds yesterday.
Host Indonesia emerged the overall champions with a 126 gold, 99 silver and 71 bronze haul. Thailand were runners-up at 53-49-29.
Vietnam (12-9-5) and Singapore (11-27-36) were in the fourth and fifth places, respectively, and the Philippines (3-3-9) rounded out the top-six.
A total of 11 countries competed at the Games, which started on June 26.
The closing was held at Graha Cakrawala Universitas Negeri Malang yesterday.
The Asean University Sports Council flag was handed to Higher Education Ministry strategic planning division secretary Fazidah Mustafa as Malaysia will be hosting the next edition of the games in 2026.
For the record, Malaysia finished second at the previous edition of the games in Thailand (2022) with a 49-83-50 haul.