An overview.

Final medal tally, 7-12-10. Malaysia managed to end their campaign in the games settling for eighth place in the final medal tally. However, we were very much far away from the yardstick of the powerhouse nation of Australia. Our athletes have also managed to surpass their performance four years ago in Manchester.

The first gold medal of the games came from Mohd. Faizal Baharom. His previous mentor, slipped of the silver position by a minimal margin but still managed a bronze. As expected, badminton contributed the most medals, winning four out of the seven gold medals on the plate. There was, however, some anxious moments when national top singles shuttler Wong Mew Choo lost 12-21, 15-21 to Tracey Hallam of England in the finals. She was on the brink of becoming the first women shuttler to win a singles title in 28 years. But Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty calmed the nerves by winning the women's doubles title after defeating the Singaporean pair. Other two gold medals also came from badminton through Lee Chong Wei (men's singles) and the dynamic partnership of Koo Kien Keat and Chan Chong Ming (men's doubles).

Malaysia's lawn bowling golden girl, Siti Zalina Ahmad successfully retained her title she earned four years ago in Manchester after defeating a veteran bowler from England. The women's triples team also contributed a gold to add to the plate.
On the downside, our world renowned squash numero uno , Nicole David, crashed out of the medal race after a disappointing defeat over her rival, Natalie Gringham of Australia. Soon after, the bronze medal also evaporated from her vision as she admitted defeat to a best from New Zealand, Shelley Kitchen.

An unexpected silver medal came from our nation's top men's diver, Yeoh Ken Nee in the 1m springboard finals. He gave the current world champion, Alexander Despatie a run for the gold medal. Another record was etched in the games history as he became the first Malaysian to acclaim a medal in diving. However, there was an unsuspected twist in the moment as he pulled out from the 3m springboard event due to fever though he was leading during the preliminaries.

Out of the total of 29 medals won, the men contributed 14 while the women delivered 13. Three others were from mixed events. Despite our athletes' satisfactory performance in Melbourne, this does not mean that they should be too complacent with their current achievements. They should not rest on their laurels and strive harder to surpass their own best. MALAYSIA BOLEH!