WOMEN’S POWER AT USM MEET

Six records fall but men have nothing to do with it

SIX records came crashing down, including a 15year-old 100m hurdles record and 14-year-old triple jump record at the two-day Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Annual Athletic Championships in Minden recently.

Starting the record breaking spree was Tham Yi Yin, who rewrote both the women’s 100m hurdles and 200m records.

The 21-year-old clocked 26.6s in the 200m to erase the old record of 26.7s held by K.S. Shanthiny set in 2012.

The Kuala Lumpur lass took to the track again for her favourite event, the 100m hurdles and swept to a time of 15.3 secs to erase the record of 17.2s set by Kon Siew Kee in 2003.

The former SMK Seri Sentosa student said her determination carried her through.

Yi Yin said she was more comfortable with the 100m, 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles, and was just trying out the 200m.

“Last year I was selected to represent the country at the Asean Schools championship but could not make it due to lack of training and examination.

“This is a good test for me as I am also preparing for the Perak Malaysia Games in September,” said Yi Yin, who bagged the Best Female Athlete Award.

Yi Yin took up athletics when her school coach Khoo Boo Keat identified her talent and roped her in for a training programme.

Meanwhile, the bubbly Farn Mei Nie also set two records. In the women’s discus, she posted 30.99m to erase her own record of 28.90m.

Later she took to the field again for the shot putt where she hurled a distance of 9.17m to erase Cheow Sze Ying’s 2013 record of 8.85m.

Incidentally, all the records were set by female athletes. The other two records were in the women’s javelin where Chew Yu En reached 33.81m to beat her own record of 23.96m.

In the women’s triple jump, Virginie Benjamin jumped to a new distance of 10.27m, toppling Kon Siew Kee’s 1995 record of 9.93m.

Roll of honour — Best Male Athlete: Muhammad Syazwan Hassan (Murni-Nurani). Overall champions male: Desa Murni-Nurani. Best Female Athlete: Tham

Overall champions female:

Tham Yi Yin (left) and Muhammad Syazwan Hassan were named as the Best Female and Male Athlete at the USM Mini Stadium in Minden recently. PIC BY K. KANDIAH.