Tamil Nadu edged Malaysia 3-2 to become overall champions during the inaugural Malaysia Indian Tamil Nadu Youth Games held at AIMST University in Kedah today.
In the five disciplines contested, Tamil Nadu showed their supremacy in Tennis and Bowling while the hosts won the Badminton and Karate events.
The Squash competition became the decider as a result and the Malaysia Indians won three out of the four matches on the first day but Tamil Nadu came storming back, winning 3-1 today to level the tie at 4-all.
However India took the Squash team title on recount as they had won 10 sets compared to Malaysia Indian’s nine sets.
Tamil Nadu team head Karti P Chidambaram was at hand to congratulate his squash players after they won their tie, enabling Tamil Nadu to win the overall challenge trophy.
“I am elated that my team rose to the occasion to win the squash event. They showed their true strength,” he said.
Malaysia Indian team leader T. Mohan said that he was satisfied with the performance of the Malaysian athletes as they had only a month’s worth of preparations.
“I feel we could have performed better if we had more time prepare the Malaysia Indian team,” he said.
The Malaysia Indian team had the upper hand in Badminton, winning seven out of the 12 matches while in Karate, the locals swept the Tamil Nadu team by seven to two points.
Deputy minister in prime minister department T. Murugiah, when giving away medals to the athletes, announced that the next Tamil Nadu Malaysia Indian Youth Games would be held in Tamil Nadu next year.
The two-day event that ended yesterday was organized by MIC Youth.