WHILE some continued to flounder, Malaysia's combat sports enjoyed a positive year in general with the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August being the highlight for many of them.
A lot is at stake for the pencak silat squad in 2018 with the sport making its debut at the Indonesia Asian Games.
And they gave positive reassurance in the Sea Games that all is well after amassing 10 gold, two silver and four bronze to emerge overall winners in the sport, their best-ever haul at the biennial games.
Mohd Al Jufferi Jamari, who was given the honour of being one of three world champion flag bearers for Malaysia in the games, lived up to his status by achieving a fourth consecutive Sea Games gold since 2011.
Jufferi, a three-time world champion, has been untouchable in the under-70kg class in the past few seasons and is almost a sure bet for gold at the Asian Games barring injury.
Teammates Fauzi Khalid, Faizul M. Nasir, Muhd Robial Sobri, Razak Ghazali also lived up to their promise in the olahraga discipline as did the ever-dependable Siti Rahmah Nasir and Siti Shazwana Ajak on the women's side.
The seni discipline saw Afifi Nordin (men's singles), Taqiyuddin Hamid-Rosli Sharif (men's doubles) and Nor Hamizah Hassan-Sur Syazreen Malik (women’s doubles) all contributing titles.
Malaysia also came out tops in the wushu competition at the Sea Games with a six gold, five silver and three bronze haul.
The men were in dominant form, sweeping five of the eight gold on offer through Yeap Wai Kin (two), Loh Jack Chang (two) and Ho Mun Hua while Diana Bong delivered in the women’s section.
The national body will now have to groom possible replacements as both Mun Hua and Diana are expected to quit after the Asian Games next year.
Having been left out of the 2015 Singapore Sea Games, the national karate squad continued where they left off in 2013 by winning seven gold, three silver and five bronze to maintain their status as the region’s powerhouse.
Asian Games champion Lim Chee Wei eased to two gold in the kata individual and team (with Emmanuel Leong and Hoe Thompson) competitions while Celine Lee took the women's individual kata title
The kumite events witnessed S. Senthil Kumaran, R. Sharmendran, Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan as well as the women's team (Syakilla, S. Shree Sharmini, M. Mathivani and P. Madhuri) delivering the goods.
Taekwondo that failed to win a single gold at the Singapore Games managed three this time through Rozaimi Rozali in the kyorugi as well as Chew Wei Yan (men's singles) and Yap Khim Wen (women's singles) in the poomsae class.
It was, however, not enough to stop taekwondo from being dropped from the core sports programme. The sport has long suffered due to internal bickering and will have to prove that all is in order under the current management if it is to make a return to the core sports list.
There was no happy ending for the national judo exponents either as they failed to break a 36-year gold drought at the Sea Games. They ended the competition with one silver and three bronze.
