Indonesia’s Nofrizal (2L) in action against Brunei at Titiwangsa Indoor Stadium. – BERNAMA
BRUNEI Darussalam national sepak takraw team bagged a third bronze medal in the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games after finishing fourth in the round robin of the men’s team regu at the Titiwangsa Indoor Stadium yesterday.
The national sepak takraw team completed their round robin group in a 3-0 straight set defeat to Indonesia who won silver after Thailand edged Malaysia by the same score-line.
Thailand clinched the gold medal after preserving their unbeaten record and have only conceded a single set en route to their gold triumph.
The consolation for the Brunei team is a shared bronze with host nation Malaysia who was convincingly beaten in straight sets to Thailand in the other match to end their hopes of collecting silver as a minimum.
Thailand’s gold medal success meant that they have won the team’s event in every edition since 1993 in Singapore.
Malaysia’s hopes of finishing with at least silver were seriously dented after a shock 2-1 loss to Indonesia on home soil which prompted their captain to issue a public apology for their performance.
Malaysia’s national sepak takraw team captain Syahir Rosdi told the New Straits Times, “We would like to apologise to all our supporters who expected us to do better. This is all we could manage.
“Whatever it is people say, as captain I take responsibility. We took Indonesia lightly as we had beaten them easily before this,” he further added.
The men’s team regu is played in a best-of-three set format and the nation is entitled to select their strongest suit in any of the games to outmatch their competitors.
