Malaysia’s national volleyball player Sim Jian Qin thinks that team Malaysia stand a good chance of winning at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, but he will not get his hopes up.
The 22-year-old player is confident that Malaysia’s volleyball team can deliver at least one medal at the tournament, although it may not be a gold medal.
According to Sim, Thailand are the reigning champions in volleyball and it is going to be tough to go up against them, even though Malaysia has home advantage as the hosts of the 2017 SEA Games.
“Thailand are the volleyball giants in Asia, and they have been winning gold at the SEA Games four years in a row, since the Palembang SEA Games in 2011.” Sim told HMetro.
“But that doesn’t mean we’re giving up. We will still train hard and put up a good fight against our opponents, and make sure Malaysia gets on the podium.”
“We also have an advantage because our team is new, there are a lot of new players, so it’s going to be difficult for the opponents to anticipate what we’re going to do.” added Sim, who was part of the national volleyball squad during the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore.
According to national volleyball head coach, Tay Yeu Siong, the team will also participate in a few tournaments leading up to the SEA Games, which means our team will be going up against the likes of Thailand, Indonesia, and others.
The pre-SEA Games tournaments are important so the coach can asses the current level and performance of the volleyball team and work on their weaknesses in the remaining period.
The 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games will be happening from the 19th until 31st of August.
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