Cheong Min bags Asian Games bronze to claim Malaysia's third medal

NAGOYA: Cheong Min, Malaysia's flagbearer in the women's nanquan-nandao event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, secured a bronze medal despite a shaky landing in the latter discipline. Cheong Min achieved 9.726 points in nanquan and 9.663 points in nandao, accumulating a total of 19.389 points. This placed her third overall at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall.

Cheong Min, who had won silver in the same event at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, expressed her disappointment in not achieving her target. She admitted that winning a bronze medal was unexpected, as Malaysia's goal was to secure at least a silver medal or fight for the gold.

Cheong Min attributed her mistake to a lack of stability during the nandao event, claiming she was "a little shaky when I landed" and received deductions for the error. Despite her less-than-perfect performance, Cheong Min remained grateful for the bronze medal, stating that it could have been worse as she could have finished on the podium.

China's Zhang Yaling emerged as the gold medalist with 19.569 points, while Uzbekistan's Darya Latisheva secured the silver with 19.413 points. Earlier, Malaysian karate athletes H. Sureeya Sankar and K. Thevendran also won bronze medals for Malaysia.