MYANMAR returned from the 2nd Asian Indoor Games in Macau with two silver medals thanks to the efforts of the men’s and women’s hooptakraw teams, although both sides said they need to improve before the Southeast Asian Games next month.

Both teams lost their finals to Thailand, who will host Myanmar in the SEA Games at Korat where Myanmar are defending champions in the men’s and women’s events.

Hooptakraw coach Captain Kyaw Zin Moe said despite his teams’ losses to archrivals Thailand in Macau, competing at the Asian Indoor Games from October 26 to November 3 had been a revealing experience.

“I noticed some weak points in my players at the tournament and I’m going fix them,” he said. “I accept these losses as a warning for the SEA Games, and they give us time to reinforce our teams.”

He said Thailand had improved a lot from the last SEA Games, held in the Philippines in 2005, but the regional title was still wide open, especially in the women’s event.

“Although we lost in the end, our women’s team performed well and picked up more points than Thailand before the final.

“In the coming SEA Games, the women’s team has a better chance of winning gold than the men, who have a 50-50 chance,” he said.

Eight nations competed in the women’s hooptakraw competition in Macau, with the Thais winning the final by 610 points to 590. Their male counterparts clinched the men’s gold over 12 other sides with a 920 to 820 victory over Myanmar.

“The women didn’t put in their best performances in the final because some of the new generation players were under pressure and lost points,” Captain Kyaw Zin Moe said.

In hooptakraw, teams form a circle and attempt to volley a cane ball through a hoop suspended 15 feet off the ground using their heads, knees or feet.

Myanmar also entered billiards stars Aung Sann Oo and Aung Htay in the 17-sport Asian Indoor Games, with both players losing to reigning Asian billiards champion Peter Gilchrist of Singapore.

Aung Sann Oo finished fourth after going down 0-3 to Gilchrist in their third-place playoff, having lost his semifinal 1-3 to eventual winner Praprut Chaithanasakun of Thailand. Praprut beat Geet Sethi of India 3-1 to lift the gold.
Aung Htay was knocked out by Gilchrist in the quarterfinals.

The losses were a setback for Myanmar’s SEA Games’ aspirations following a gold in the team event in 2005, although coach Dr Min Naing said he was optimistic about Myanmar’s chances next month.

“At the previous SEA Games the expectations were very high, which put our players under a lot of pressure and we got one gold fighting against that pressure,” he said.

“But this time we are underdogs because we lost to players from Southeast Asia in Macau. It takes some of the pressure off us”.

Dr Min Naing said this year’s SEA Games from December 6-15 would be the most competitive so far due to the rapid improvement of players in the region.