KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia ended their World Games campaign in Chengdu, China, on Saturday by adding a silver medal, but the star of the show was wushu queen Tan Cheong Min.
She struck gold in the nandao and nanquan combined event with a score of 19.479 points, finishing ahead of Uzbekistan’s Darya Latisheva (19.433) and Singapore’s Kassandra Ong (19.386).
It was the country’s first World Games gold in the sport.
Cheong Min, a world champion in 2017 (Duilian) and 2019 (Nandao), credited the Chengdu crowd for inspiring her to victory.
“This is my first time in Chengdu, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere,” she told CGTN Sports.
“Having won at the World and Asian levels, I felt some pressure to perform here, but the support from the audience encouraged me to give my best.”
Cheong Min is only the fourth Malaysian to win gold at the World Games. Bowlers Daniel Lim and Sharon Low clinched the mixed doubles in Finland (1997), while squash legend Nicol David bagged three golds between 2005 (Germany) and 2013 (Colombia).
Her latest triumph adds to an impressive collection — two world titles, two golds at the 2023 Phnom Penh SEA Games, gold at the 2023 World Combat Games, gold at the 2024 Asian Championships, and two Taolu World Cup titles (2018 and 2024).
She will next compete at the World Championships in Brazil next month, followed by the Thailand SEA Games in December.
Pang Pui Yee took silver in the changquan, qiangshu (spear) and jianshu (sword) combined event, scoring 29.189 points at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Centre Gymnasium. It was Malaysia’s third medal in Chengdu.
Sydney Chin had opened the tally with bronze in the women’s taijijian-taijiquan all-round event on Friday.
Malaysia sent a small contingent of five athletes competing in two sports to the World Games.
On Friday, Clement Ting finished fifth in the men’s changquan, daoshu and gunshu all-round event (28.815), while compound archer Alang Ariff Aqil Ghazali exited in the first round after losing to Turkiye’s Yagiz Sezgin.
Malaysia’s haul of one gold, one silver and one bronze placed them 16th overall — ahead of Indonesia (one gold, one silver) and Singapore (one silver, three bronze) in 28th place.
The World Games will conclude on Aug 17.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
