Penang missed out on gold in the women’s beach volleyball final at the 2026 Malaysia Games (Sukma) after hosts Selangor fought back to claim victory in a tense three-set match at Dewan Teratai MBSA, Shah Alam on Saturday.
The Penang pairing of Noor Aishah Iskandar, 21, and Nur Auni Maisarah Shamsulrizal, 19, took the opening set 21-16 and looked set to clinch gold. But Selangor’s Goh Yu Jie and Goh Yu Heng rallied to win the second set 21-17, forcing a decider, as NST reported.
Selangor held their nerve in the third set, prevailing 15-11 to deny Penang the top step of the podium.
Penang beach volleyball team manager Mohammad Noor Aizuddin Omar praised both players for executing the game plan under pressure.
“According to the plan we had prepared, both players gave their best. After this, we will conduct a post-mortem to identify where our weaknesses were,” he told Buletin Mutiara.
Noor Aizuddin pointed out that both players had already pushed through injuries during the competition, with Nur Auni nursing a foot problem before the final.
“Our players had suffered injuries before this, but we continued until the end. We told the players to endure the pain and keep fighting until the match was over,” he said.
Penang Sukma contingent chef de mission Joseph Ng Soon Siang, who is also the Air Itam assemblyman, said he remained proud of the duo for fighting until the final point.
“As usual in sports, you cannot take any opponent lightly. Our target was a gold medal today, but there is nothing we can do. Our opponents were better today, so we have to accept the result,” he told the publication.
Ng noted that Penang had started the final strongly but lost momentum in the second set before struggling to regain confidence in the deciding game.
“In the third set, it comes down to confidence. Perhaps that was where we lacked a little. Hopefully, the Penang State Sports Council and our sports psychology team can help them develop further,” he said.
The silver adds to Penang’s beach volleyball record at Sukma, with the squad having dominated the group stage earlier in the week.
