Iskandar bags Malaysia's 40th gold medal in Palembang

PALEMBANG: National men's singles shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin bagged the 40th gold medal for Malaysia at the 17th Asean University Games in Palembang at the GOR Dempo Satidium in Jakabaring.
Iskandar easily defeated his opponent Ashton Chen from Singapore winning straight sets 21-12, 21-14.
Iskandar's feat also hit the gold medal target set by the Education Ministry for this year's games.
When met, Iskandar said he was satisfied with his debut at the AUG, as he contributed towards the country's gold medal tally.
"I did not feel too pressured during the match as Ashton had long left the Singapore national squad and also had not trained for some time, so I had an advantage.
"We (badminton squad) knew that the contingent needed one more gold to reach the target so we were more focused to ensure it could be done," he said.
Earlier, Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abd Khalid and Chow Mei Kuan secured Malaysia's 39th gold medal after defeating fellow squad members Mohammad Arif Ab Latif and Lee Meng Yean through straight sets 22-20, and 21-19.
Then, Mei Kuan and Meng Yuan paired for the women's double event but they had to settle for silver as they lost to Thailand's Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawida Prajongjai 11-21, 21-13, 13-21.
The men's double team also contributed with a silver medal after Jagdish Singh and Vountus Indra Mawan Saniru were defeated by Indonesians Adiartama Arya Maulana and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamulyo 11-21, 21-18, 17-21.
On the whole, the badminton squad contributed three gold medals, including one in the men's team event recently.
Besides that, the squad also picked up two silver medals and one bronze. The bronze medal was from the women's team event. – Bernama