Malaysia will bank on Khairil and Choon Sieng for a golden walk

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will be counting on Muhd Khairil Harith Harun and Lo Choon Sieng to deliver the gold medal in the walk event at the KL SEA Games in August.

But that’s still a few months away.

For now, the duo will get to gauge their standard against SEA Games favourites H. Hendro of Indonesia and Nguyen Thanh Ngung of Vietnam in the Asia 20km Race Walking meet, which begins in Nomi City, Japan, tomorrow.

Hendro broke the Indonesian national record in the men’s 20km walk by clocking 1’27:24 in the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi City last year en route to a fifth placing.

He is the favourite to retain the SEA Games gold medal which he won in Singapore two years ago.

Thanh Ngung has a personal best of 1’23:29 and is the first walker from Vietnam to have featured in the Olympics when he competed in Rio de Janeiro, clocking 1’30.01 to finish in 60th spot.

National athletics chief coach Zainal Abas said that the race in Nomi City would be the first event of the year for both Khairil and Choon Sieng.

“It will give us an early indication as to where our walkers stand against their Indonesian and Vietnamese rivals, who are top two in the region.

“Our plans to send two national walkers for the training-cum-competition stint in Europe in June for the KL SEA Games will depend on the duo’s performance in Nomi City on Sunday,” said Zainal.

Khairil, who won a bronze in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games, has a personal of 1’29:38 set in a competition in Spain last year.

Choon Sieng, the gold medallist in the 2011 Palembang SEA Games, retired in 2014 but came out of retirement last year to feature in the KL Games. He had set his personal best of 1’27:36 in Nomi City in 2010.