KUALA LUMPUR: The national contingent did well to deliver another three gold medals today on the eve of the Sea Games opening ceremony in Hanoi.
Silat exponents Taqiyuddin Hamid and Sazzlan Yuga landed the first gold of the day with a successful defence of their men's doubles (seni) gold after downing Singaporean siblings Hazim and Haziq Mohammad Zaque in the final.
Malaysia also won three bronze in seni through Luqman Laji (men's singles), Nur Syazreen A Malik-Nor Hamizah Abu Hassan (women's doubles) and Siti Nur Khairunnisa Hail, Fatin Ardani Zamri and Merrywati Manuil (women's trios).
Diver Syafiq Puteh clinched an emotional gold — his first Sea Games individual title — in the men's 3m springboard and later dedicated it to his first-born daughter Nuraisya Zulaikha, who turns 2 on Thursday.
Youngster Gabriel Gilbert Daim made it a 1-2 finish for Malaysia in the discipline.
Pandelela Rinong-Nur Dhabitah Sabri then completed Malaysia's clean sweep of the diving events by winning the women's 10m platform synchronised event with minimal fuss.
Malaysia thus concluded the diving competition with an impressive total of eight gold, three silver and one bronze.
In kickboxing, Rifdean Masdor settled for bronze in the men's full contact Under-51kg class after going down to Vietnam's Tuan Huynh Van in the semi-finals.
Hayatun Najihin Radzuan also lost in her semi-final bout against Philippines Gina Araos Iniong in the women's low kick Under-60kg class.
Another bronze was claimed by kurash exponent Yousuff Daniel Fauzi Cruz, who lost to Vietnam's Truc Phi Phan in his men's Under-66kg division semi-final.
Malaysia ended the day in second place overall in the medal table with nine gold, three silver and six bronze.
Hosts Vietnam lead on 9-7-9, while Indonesia are third with 3-4-1.