SINGAPORE - Teenage pencak silat exponent Hazim Yusli earned the Republic's 19th gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games on Thursday (Dec 5) after beating Vietnam's Nguyen Dinh Tuan 4-1 in the men's Class B (50-55kg) tanding (match) final.

It was the perfect end to the year for 18-year-old Hazim, who in May picked up the Sportsboy of the Year award after he had won gold at the World Pencak Silat Championships in 2018.

This year's SEA Games features only nine events in total compared to 19 in Kuala Lumpur in 2017, with only the lighter weight classes contested in the tanding - the heaviest categories are Class B (50-55kg) for women and Class D (60-65kg) for men. As a result, men's Class J (90-95kg) world champion Sheik Farhan Sheik Alau'ddin and his brother, Class I (80-85kg) world champion Sheik Ferdous, are not in action at the Subic Bay Exhibit and Exhibition Centre in the Philippines.

Hazim's win is Singapore's second silat gold medal in the Philippines, following the one won by Hamillatu Arash, Nazrul Kamal and Nujaid Hasif in the men's seni regu (artistic trios) on Monday.

Iqbal Abdul Rahman on Monday won a silver medal in the men's seni tunggal (artistic solo), while Atiq Syazwani and Nurul Suhaila also won bronze medals in the women's Class A and B divisions, respectively, on Wednesday.

At the 2017 SEA Games, the silat athletes won two golds, four silvers and six bronzes.