Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Electronic Sports Federation (MESF) has set a target of bringing home two gold medals at the Thailand 2025 SEA Games scheduled to take place from Dec 9 to 20, according to its president Muhammad Naim Al-Amin. He said the target was based on the Arena of Valor (AoV) and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) categories based on the excellent performance of the national players in local and international tournaments.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Muhammad Naim highlighted the strength of the Thai AoV team but expressed confidence in the calibre of Malaysian players. Despite acknowledging the prowess of other MLBB teams, he emphasized that the Malaysian team's determination and spirit are critical to their potential success. The MESF focuses on both the technical and spiritual readiness of the athletes, reinforcing this by collaborating with Esport MedicA to ensure the players' mental well-being is maintained during high-pressure tournaments.

In this biennial edition, Malaysia will participate in all six esports events that will be contested, namely eFootball, MLBB in the men's and women's categories, AoV, Free Fire, and FIFA Online 4. Muhammad Naim explained that team selection is based on performance in professional leagues run by the respective game's publisher. For the men's MLBB team, selection is based on league performance, while the women's category will have their players evaluated through their own leagues, a method also applied to other games such as eFootball.

Additionally, MESF plans to send a complete team rather than mixing players from different teams to ensure compatibility and strategy. Malaysia previously won an esports gold medal in the game Hearthstone, achieved by Dr. Yew Weng Kean during the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.