Malaysia: Malaysia's men's and women's ice hockey teams are entering the SEA Games Thailand with grounded but ambitious targets as both squads intensify their final phase of preparation.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, women's team captain Kimberly Wan Mei Wah, whose squad will be making its SEA Games debut, said the team has collectively set a target to finish with a silver medal. Kimberly stated that the squad has been consistent in training and is now focused on strengthening cohesion ahead of the tournament.

'Our preparation has been really good. We've been very consistent, we've been coming to trainings and our final prep is primarily just playing as a team consistently and cohesively and that's what we're aim to focus on. We're really excited to put on a good show,' she said to the media during the Jalur Gemilang handover ceremony to the Malaysian ice hockey team here today.

Meanwhile, men's team captain Brandon Tan said his squad is targeting a bronze medal but remains hopeful of pushing for gold. Brandon mentioned that training has been intense, with sessions held two to three times a week and players consistently giving maximum effort. 'Well, our target will be bronze, but ultimately we always want to get a gold medal. So we'll try our best to get a gold medal for sure,' he said.

'It's been going well. We've been training 2-3 times. the team's very good. We all are very serious about training and give our very best,' he added. Both men's and women's ice hockey events at the SEA Games will be contested in a round-robin format. The Malaysian men's team will face Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore, while the women's team will compete against Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.