It’s another Singapore high for Nauraj

National high jumper Nauraj Singh Randhawa seems to thrive at the Singapore Sports Hub. The Johor athlete was in sublime form at the venue as he rewrote his national record by soaring to a new height of 2.30m to retain the gold medal on the first day of the Singapore Open Athletics Championships. His effort was also enough for him to qualify for his first World Championships in London in August. Last year, Nauraj broke the national record by clearing 2.29m en route to winning the gold in the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships at the same venue in April – and qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

End of the road for our cueists at Asian meet PETALING JAYA: Malaysian cueists’ gallant run in the Asian Snooker Championships in Doha, Qatar, has come to an end.

Moh Keen Hoo, Patrick Ooi and Mohd Reza Hassan got only as far as the quarter-finals.

Keen Hoo and Patrick were left kicking themselves after failing to win the crucial eighth frame, having led 4-3 in the best-of-nine format ties.

The 44-year-old Patrick battled for more than five hours against last year’s runner-up Mohamed Shebab of the United Arab Emirates before losing 4-5 (56-47, 16-101, 96-8, 44-56, 60-39, 42-81, 109-30, 36-93, 48-84).

Keen Hoo’s bid of reaching the last four for the first time since 2008 was dashed after he lost 4-5 (91-8, 90-21, 13-84, 35-64, 61-38, 17-78, 68-1, 10-74, 25-65) to China’s up-and-coming star Lyu Haotian.

Reza, meanwhile, found last year’s Pakistan national champion Mohammad Bilal too tough to handle, going down 2-5 (39-79, 0-80, 40-75, 56-2, 26-81, 113-0, 52-68).

It was a sad end for Malaysia, who have produced three Asian champions to date – Sam Chong (1990), Ooi Chin Kay (1994) and Thor Chuan Leong (2014).