.

By ERIC SAMUEL


Mohd Farkhan Haron (left) boxing en route to the silver medal at the Korat SEA Games in 2007.


MALAYSIA have won the boxing gold medal only five times in the 50-year history of the SEA Games.

Only one of them was won away from home – in Bangkok in 1967. The first was recorded on home turf in 1965 and the others were one win in 1989 and two victories in 2001.


Advertisment

And at the 25th edition of the Games in Laos next month, one ambitious Malaysian boxer will be out to shed the “Jaguh Kampung” image.

He is Muhamed Farkhan Mohd Haron and the 21-year-old from Johor is the best bet to end an eight-year gold drought for Malaysia in Vientiane.

“If you check the records, we have never won a gold away from home since 1967 and I am puzzled by this phenomenon,” said Farkhan in a telephone interview from Bangkok.

The Malaysian on record as an away winner is Terence Stallman before Malaysia broke a gold drought at home through Zulkifli Yaakob in the middleweight competition in 1989. The other golden moments in Kuala Lumpur came from Zainuddin Sidi and Adnan Yusoh.

“It was the same at the Commonwealth Games when Sapok Biki last won the gold at the KL Games in 1998,” pointed out Farkhan, the son of former national heavyweight boxer Mohamed Haron.

In his debut at the SEA Games in Korat in 2007, Farkhan settled for the 69kg welterweight silver medal, losing to favourite Non Don Jumnong of Thailand in the final.

“It was a final to remember on Dec 20 because it was my birthday and I badly wanted to win the gold,” recalled Farkhan.

“But my opponent was no ordinary contender. He was a silver medallist at the World Championships in Chicago in 2007. But I am more mature now and hope to go one better in Vientiane.”

Farkhan is also hoping to make his mark in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games next year.

The other boxers in the team for the Laos Games are Mohd Ali Abdul Karim, Eddy Kalai, Fernandes Paulus, Mohd Fuad Ridzuan and Mohd Fairuz Azwan Abdullah.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Amateur Boxing Federation (MABF) welcomed the SEA Games Federation’s (SGF) decision to limit the number of participants to six for each country.

The MABF secretary, Maulud Othman, said that the rule would deny powerhouse Thailand from dominating in all 10-weight categories for men.

“The Thais, for sure, will win gold in the six categories they choose to compete in.

“And that gives the other countries the chances to take gold in the other events,” he said.

At the last Games in Korat, Thailand won 10 out of the 11 gold medals while Malaysia managed two silvers and three bronzes.

At the 2003 Games in Vietnam, Malaysia could only manage a bronze and at the following Games in Manila, they managed three bronze medals.
~The Star