A horse-riding sultan led Malaysia's charge at the Southeast Asian Games on Sunday as he bagged two equestrian gold medals on a bumper day for the hosts. Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, the first sultan to compete in the Games, celebrated both individual and team gold in the 80km race as Malaysia surged ahead on the medals table.
The Terengganu state ruler - riding at the Terengganu International Endurance Park - completed the 80-kilometre (50 miles) course in 8hr 23min 4sec on his mount Rtes Annaversary. The sultan is not the only royal at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, which will also feature a Thai princess in the dressage and has a Brunei prince in the football competition.
His exploits helped Malaysia to a Games total of 14 gold medals during the first full day of competition, with Singapore on six and Thailand four. "We worked in cohesion, moved together and our strategy worked. Although it was a long race, it did not seem boring or lethargic as we galloped energetically," the sultan said.
Malaysia also won the men's rugby sevens title, beating Singapore 22-7 in the final, and avenged their loss to Singapore in the 2015 netball title match with a convincing 65-41 victory. Singapore's men beat Malaysia 17-4 to clinch the water polo title for the 27th straight Games, extending a remarkable streak that stretches all the way back to 1965.
"We wanted to show clearly that we are the still the best team in Southeast Asia, so we went very hard today and I think we proved a point for sure," said Singapore's Koh Jian Ying. Elsewhere Malaysia's Yeap Wai Kin, who was inspired to take up wushu by Chinese movie star Jet Li, bagged his first SEA Games gold in the martial art, in the jianshu competition.
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