Syahir calls one gold, one silver a career-best Asian Games

NAGOYA: National sepak takraw tekong Syahir Rosdi considers his campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games one of his finest career achievements despite missing out on a double-gold haul.

Syahir, Azlan Alias and Aidil Aiman Azwawi took silver after losing 15-9, 15-8 to Thailand's Kritsanapong Nontakote, Wuttinun Kamsanor and Tanaphon Sapyen in the men's regu final at the Nagoya City Mizuho Arena today.

Thailand produced a composed and disciplined performance to defend their title and dash Malaysia's hopes of finishing the Games with two gold medals.

Despite the defeat, Syahir viewed his tally of one gold and one silver as a major milestone, improving on his two silver medals from previous Asian Games appearances.

"This time, we managed to change the colour of the medal to win one gold. So, I have to say this is one of the best achievements of my career," Syahir said after the match.

"For me, this is quite a good achievement at these Asian Games because previously it was two silvers."

The defeat ended Malaysia's bid to replicate their double-gold performance from the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, where the country won both the team regu and regu events.

Last Friday, the national squad ended a 36-year wait by securing the team regu gold, a title they last won in 1990.

Malaysia's last regu gold came at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, an edition in which Thailand did not compete.

On today's final, Syahir said the team gave everything, but Thailand proved better prepared.

"As a team, we gave it our absolute best, but there are some small things that we need to pay attention to.

"Psychologically, I felt Thailand really wanted to win today. We tried our very best and tried everything we could. But today, it was Thailand's fortune," he added.