'Wait after the Asian Games' - Nazifuddin

SHAH ALAM - The 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games will serve as an 'experiment' for the Malaysian contingent to test a strategy of not setting specific medal colour targets, whether successful or otherwise.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary-general Datuk Nazifuddin Najib said that the approach of targeting a total of 27 medals would be reviewed after the conclusion of the games in Hangzhou.

"For the first time, we are trying this overall target practice. We will look at the results at the Asian Games and conduct a post-mortem and discussions," he said.

"Olympics are different because there is the Road to Gold Committee, so we need to look at the results at the Asian Games and then decide whether to continue with this new system or not," he added.

For the first time, the Malaysian contingent has not specifically stated a gold medal target, in contrast to the practice of the past decades.

Instead, they are aiming for a total of 27 medals for the national contingent, as announced by the Chef de Mission (CDM) for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Datuk Chong Kim Fatt, on Monday.