REPORTING FROM MYANMAR
The medal tally for Singapore's Southeast Asian Games campaign kicked off on Saturday morning with a surprise bronze in chinlone.
Sent in to attempt the traditional Burmese sport for the first time ever, the Republic's sepak takraw team were soundly beaten over all three days of matches this week - the last of which was through a 159-349 thrashing by host country and eventual champions Myanmar in the 'non-repetition' category.
But with no third-place play-off in the latter event, both Singapore and Malaysia - who lost 259-293 to Cambodia - ended up being awarded joint-bronze.
Captain Muhammad Magrib said he was 'proud' to have contributed to Singapore's first medal at the Games.
'This will be a boost for us ahead of our sepak takraw matches,' he added, and his sentiment was shared by team coach Salleh Nanang.
Magrib is gunning for silver in the double event, which starts on 18 December, while Nanang said he would be pleased to finish in the top four.
Falling shortThere was less joy for Singapore's wushu exponents after a morning of competition in the adjacent Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium.
Both men and women 'unexpectedly' came up short in their quest for a medal, said coach Yang Ning, as he rued a combination of errors, nerves and bad luck for his team.
The men's duilian trio of Yong Yi Xiang, Adalia Jesse Colin and Etienne Lee finished fourth with a score of 9.59, just 0.01 point short of the bronze achieved by Thailand.
According to Yang, the blade wielded by Yong was 'bent' and the irregularity went on to affect his performance. Later, Yong and Colin were off the mark in the men's individual changquan event and placed 11th and 10th out of 13.
Emily Sin finished last in the women's nanquan while Fung Hui Xin also missed out on a medal with her fourth place in jianshu.
While Yang admitted to a case of first-day jitters, he also pointed to the luck of the draw, which had Singapore's athletes as the first few to perform in nearly every event.
The coach is counting on his charges to 'do better' over the next few days - particularly in the taiji category, which will combine Saturday's taijiquan results with the upcoming taijijian (sword) to determine overall placing.
Valerie Wee and Lee Tze Yuan are still in with a shout in after they both finished fourth, and Lee told Yahoo Singapore he was happy with his performance in a field with very little to separate each athlete.
'I like what I did today,' said the 23-year-old. 'If I can reproduce this form again, I'd say there's a chance of a medal.'
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