He said the management will conduct a post-mortem on the dismal outcome, which saw Malaysia win 56 gold, 58 silver and 72 bronze medals to finish fifth.

The contingent comprised 773 athletes, who participated in 52 of the 56 sports contested.
“I would like to apologise for the contingent’s failure and to the people of Malaysia who are watching this live telecast,” he told a post-competition press conference today.

Also present were his deputy Nurul Huda Abdullah, National Sports Council director-general Shapawi Ismail and Olympic Council of Malaysia secretary-general Nazifuddin Najib.

Megat said athletes failed to deliver for various reasons, including overconfidence in sports like archery, sailing and tenpin bowling where Malaysia were the defending champions.

He also expressed disappointment over judging quality, highlighting the cases of 110m hurdler Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian and rhythmic gymnast Izzah Amzan, who were denied gold medals.

“Various problems were compounded by the poor management of the organisers, where much of the information was not received or streamlined,” he added.

“Schedule changes for many events, as well as flight delays due to Typhoon Kammuri (which hit the Philippines during the Games) affected the focus of athletes.”

Megat also urged the Sports Ministry to work with stakeholders to make early preparations for the 2021 edition in Hanoi, Vietnam.