KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 (Bernama) -- Once a star in the pool, former national swimming queen Nurul Huda Abdullah is now set to lead Malaysia on dry land as the chef de mission (CDM) to the SEA Games 2025 in Thailand from Dec 9 to 20.
With about two months to go before the biennial Games kicks off, Nurul Huda, who is also Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) vice-president, believed that her experience as deputy CDM at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines will stand her in good stead as she prepares to spearhead the Malaysian contingent in the ‘Land of Smiles’.
“That SEA Games (2019 edition) opened my eyes to a lot of how to handle and lead big teams under the leadership of the then CDM Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin.
“This 2025 edition will be quite challenging in terms of logistics...with more sports participating, as well as Olympic sports, but I'm confident our contingent will perform better this time around,” she told reporters during her official visit to the national table tennis squad here, today.
She said the final number of Malaysian officials and athletes for the SEA Games, however, will only be known next month.
Nurul Huda, 52, will be assisted by three deputy CDMs, namely Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh, former sprint ace Nazmizan Muhammad and former hockey player Jivan Mohan
Nurul Huda holds the record for the most medals won by a Malaysian athlete at SEA Games with an incredible total of 32 medals, comprising 22 gold, 8 silver and 2 bronze across three consecutive editions in 1985, 1987 and 1989.
She remains the first and only Malaysian female swimmer to have won a medal at the Asian Games, with an outstanding achievement of 2 silver and 2 bronze medals at the 10th Asian Games in Seoul in 1986. She also represented Malaysia at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
When asked about the swimming squad's performance at the ongoing Asian Aquatics Championship 2025 in Ahmedabad, India, she said she was pleased with their achievement of bagging two bronzes so far.
“This (Asian Aquatics Championship) is a good lead-up for us to see where we stand and how we gauge against all the other countries (at the SEA Games 2025),” she said.
Malaysia claimed two bronzes from Khiew Hoe Yean in men’s 400 metre (m) freestyle and men's 4x200m freestyle relay.
-- BERNAMA
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