The South East Asian country, which gained independence from Britain in 1957, finished 74th in the medals table in Beijing with the silver medal badmionton player Lee Chong Wei won in the men's singles, the fourth Olympic medal won by a Malaysian player since the sport was introduced in 1992.

 

But the country of 27.4 million is still desperately waiting for its first gold medal.

 

There were high hopes for track cyclists Azizul Hasni Awang, Josiah Ng, Mohd Edrus Yunus and Mohd Rizal Tisin but they failed to make an impact in an event dominated by Britain, who won seven of the 10 events.

 

Malaysia's Youth and Sports Ministry has now set a target of winning at least one gold medal in London.

 

Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said among the sports to be given priority would be badminton, archery and cycling.

 

He said: "We will also give attention to sports like gymnastics, diving and shooting that require certain skills, not physical strength.

 

A plan to recruit foreign athletes to represent Malaysia, like Qatar and Georgia did for Beijing, was rejected.

 

Ismail Sabri said: "We don't want to choose the easy way out by importing foreign players or athletes and make them Malayian nationals.

"We prefer to groom our own athletes because if they win medals, we will be more proud of the success achieved by our own citizens compared with that coming from the imports."

 

In the build-up to Beijing, the cyclists were based in Melbourne under the charge of Australian John Beasley.

 

The Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF)  deputy president Datuk Naim Mohd said that the team needed to be relocated in Britain to give them more opportunities to measure themselves against better competition and gain more experience.

 

He said: “We plan to review our training base in Melbourne.

 

"There are many races in Europe and we may look at having a base somewhere in London or another venue in the region.

 

“It will be good to keep the cyclists on their toes throughout the year.

 

"In Melbourne, there are no races during winter.

 

"We will discuss this with the NSC (National Sports Council)."

 

London will not have an indoor velodrome until the one being built for the Olympics is completed in 2011.

 

The British team train at Manchester's velodrome, built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, while there is also a top-class facility at Newport, where the team did their final preparations before leaving for Beijing.

 

Naim said: “Our track cyclists showed that they are at par with riders from some countries, among them Australia and Germany.

 

"But England [sic] and France are still one class above.

 

“We are not surprised with Britain’s achievement in cycling at the Beijing Olympics.

 

"They spent about £22 million and justified it by winning eight [gold] medals.

 

“With continuous funding and support, I am sure that our cyclists will be on the right track for the London Olympics."

 

Malaysia has been among the most pro-active of countries in trying to establish training bases in Britain during the build-up to London 2012.

 

They had been hoping to set up a training base in London for its athletes.

 

The plan was to set up of a High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Brickendonbury, London.

 

But Malaysia’s application for the up-grading of the existing facilities there was rejected the the East Herts Council Development Control Committee.

 

Then in April they held talks with Marlborough College in Wiltshire to discuss the possibility with them of using that as a base.