PENANG’s artistic gymnastics team got their gold-medal campaign off to a winning start after delivering a confident and composed performance in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2026 under the men’s team event at Dewan Canselor Tun Abdul Razak (Dectar), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) today.
The six-member team comprising Anson Tan Yu Hang, Chew You Kai, Chew You Wei, Liew Kai Jack, Neoh Kean Yong and Wilson Yeoh Wei Sin showed the consistency they had worked on during preparations to secure the gold, giving the state an encouraging start ahead of the individual apparatus finals on Aug 22 and 23.
Coach Tan Teik Jin, 29, said he was pleased with the athletes’ performance and, more importantly, the fact that they completed the competition without injuries.
“From my view, after today’s competition, I can say that our athletes gave their best. There were no injuries,” he said.
However, Tan admitted that the team had hoped for more from the individual events, with the absence of an individual gold medal so far not quite what they had expected.
“Maybe not getting the individual gold is not what we expected, but I am confident that our athletes will fight back for the golds in their final events,” he said.
He added that the team’s morale remained high following their successful team-event outing, with all six gymnasts now determined to push themselves further in the remaining finals.
“After today’s competition, our athletes are quite spirited and hyped to prove themselves in the coming finals, and all of them have their eyes on golds,” said Tan.
The victory came after a strong build-up, with Tan previously expressing confidence in the team’s preparations following their podium training.
He said the athletes had performed their routines steadily, with their skills looking secure and no falls recorded during the training session.
“From yesterday’s podium training, from my view, they were quite stable in their routines. Everyone was quite confident because they had done all the routines, and yesterday they did not fall down at all,” he said.
“Every skill was quite secure, and we aimed for as much gold as we could.”
Tan had set an ambitious target of three to five gold medals for the team, based on the athletes’ performances, difficulty levels and the cleanliness of their routines during preparations.
“I think three to five golds,” he said when asked about the team’s target.
“We can secure some events. We are quite confident. Their difficulty is quite good, and their routines are quite clean also.”
The team event is contested by six athletes, although only five athletes’ scores are counted for each apparatus, giving the team some flexibility to field athletes according to their strengths.
“We are six participants, so only the marks of five participants are counted for every event,” Tan explained.
He said each gymnast also had particular strengths that could be utilised across the six apparatuses.
“For every event, we have some people who are quite good in that event, especially for that particular event,” he said.
With the team gold now secured, Penang’s attention turns to the individual apparatus finals on Aug 22 and 23, where the gymnasts will have further opportunities to add to the state’s gold-medal tally.
Tan said the team would now look to see whether they could capture gold across the remaining six individual apparatus events.
“We will go for the finals on the (Aug) 22nd and 23rd. The finals will be for the individual apparatus events, so we will see whether we can get the other six single-apparatus event golds,” he said.
For Tan and his charges, the team gold is therefore not the end of the mission, but rather the first major step in what they hope will be a successful campaign.
With confidence high and the team determined to bounce back in the individual events, Penang’s artistic gymnasts now have their sights firmly set on adding more gold to their haul.
Story by Kevin Vimal
Pix by Muhammad Iqbal Hamdan