Chef de mission of the Malaysian delegation Dato' A. Sani Karim said here on Tuesday that his country expects to win eight gold medals at the upcoming Asian Games to be held here from December 1-15.

"We expect that we will get at least five gold medals and eight at most," Karim told Xinhua after the delegation held a flag- raising ceremony Tuesday afternoon at the athletes' village.

The chef de mission said his country's athletes have the potential to get gold medals at the events of squash, bowling, Karate, Wushu and sailing.

Malaysia has a 231-athlete team for the Doha Games to compete in 23 sports.

Earlier reports have said that the southeastern Asian country may get eight to nine gold medals.

In 2002, Malaysia ranked 12th at the 14th Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, with six gold medals, eight silvers and 16 bronzes.