Malaysia again excellent in SEA Games athletics

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has regained excellent results in track and field events at the SEA Games when it grabbed 25 medals overall, of which eight were gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals out of the 45 events contested.
It was the best achievement after the last time Malaysia hosted the Games in 2001 and the one in 2003 in Vietnam, Malaysia had won eight gold medals on both occasions.
At the Singapore SEA Games two years ago, the national squad returned home with only three gold medals, a decline from the four gold medals won in Myanmar in 2013.
It was not merely defending the three gold medals won in Singapore, the national squad also broke three SEA Games records and seven national records throughout the five days at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
The achievement of eight gold medals including the one won by Khairul Hafiz Jantan in the men's 100m sprint has put Malaysia in third placing overall, only one gold behind Thailand who was beaten by Vietnam as the King of Athletics at the SEA Games.
Vietnam grabbed 17 gold medals, shocking Thailand who had all this while dominated athletics and had to accept the count of nine gold medals this time compared with the 17 achieved in Singapore.
Besides Khairul Hafiz, Malaysia's resurgence was contributed by Jackie Wong Siew Cheer (men's hammer throw), Grace Wong Xiu Mei (women's hammer throw) and Muhammad Hakimi Ismail (men's triple jump) all of whom broke the SEA Games record, Muhammad Irfan Samsuddin defended the gold in discuss throw, Elena Goh Ling Yin (women's 10,000m walk), high jumper Nauraj Singh defended the event by equalising the SEA Games record made by former national champion Loo Kum Zee and Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian who returned to be champion of the 110m hurdles after a decade.
The athletics squad also expressed confidence through silver medallists K. Prabudass (men's 5,000m), Choo Kang Ni (women's discus throw) and bronze medallists Royson Vincent (men's 800m) and Yeap Sean Yee (women's high jump) and also Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli who became the first para athlete to win a medal in the SEA Games with a bronze in the shot putt.
In several events, however, other countries were clearly far ahead. Although the Malaysian athletes succeeded in breaking the national record, they could not win medals such as in the men's 4x100m represented by Muhammad Haikal Hanafi, Jonathan Nyepa, Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap and Nixson Kennedy and heptathlon athlete Norliyana Kamaruddin who broke the 36-year-old record in the event.
Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk Karim Ibrahim said the key to the success was the smooth planning with the cooperation of the National Sports Council (NSC) and the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) for the past two years.
"For the past two years I had been firm with the coaches and athletes and wish to apologise to them because they had fulfilled what they had promised. I also want them to work hard because after this, we must be prepared for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, besides the SEA Games in the Philippines in the next two years," he told Bernama after fulfilling his pledge to shave his head bald if the national squad were to win seven gold medals.
Karim said the MAF planned to create an annual award for male and female athletes beginning 2018 to demonstrate the federation's commitment to the athletes and encourage them to demonstrate excellent performance and discipline.
The MAF also provided a reward of RM1,000 for every SEA Games gold medal, RM1,000 for breaking the national record and RM1,000 for championship record.
Head coach for the national athletics squad, Zainal Abas was proud that the national records for 16 events had been renewed this year by the national squad thus showing that they had the quality to continue the challenge.
"The majority of the athletes were in their early 20's and they will certainly compete in the next SEA Games and try to increase the medals that we have won. However, we must be wary of the challenge posed by Vietnam since the past two editions. In fact, even Thailand is surprised at the medal tally achieved by Vietnam especially in the women's events where they won many gold medals," he added. — Bernama