ALOR STAR: Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon is confident that the state will achieve its 50-gold target in the XI Sukan Malaysia (Sukma).

“We have so far obtained 29 gold medals. We still have four more days to go,” he said after visiting the media centre here yesterday.

Despite suffering from toe injuries, Dr Koh insisted on meeting the Penang athletes to give them moral support.

Dr Koh was accompanied by state Youth and Sports Committee chairman Jahara Hamid, Penang Sports Council director Lee Hang Son and Penang Puteri chief Azlina Mehtab Mohd Ishaq.

“I am not going to say I am satisfied with Penang performance. But I would say the results are encouraging.

“Although we are in the third placing today, in terms of the number of gold medals won, we are actually in the second position,” he said.

Dr Koh said Penang was making a strong comeback in the swimming events.

“We had our glory days in the swimming arena before, then our performance dropped. Now we are soaring again,” he said.

On Penang’s dismal performance in combative sports, Dr Koh said it did not mean that the athletes were not good.

“It shows that athletes from other states are improving,” he said.

Dr Koh was given the honour to present medals to the winners in the male 94kg category of the weightlifting competition at Youth and Sports Complex here.