Hup Wei eyeing a golden leap in Asian meet

KUALA LUMPUR: High jumper Lee Hup Wei (pic) hopes to spring another surprise in the Asian Athletics Championships.

Hup Wei surprised everyone by clearing 2.24m to win the gold in the championships in Amman, Jordan, in 2007.

Now 10 years later, the 30-year-old Selangor athlete will be making his sixth appearance in the four-day meet, which begins at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India, tomorrow.

The three-time SEA Games gold medallist has featured in the Asian championships in Incheon, South Korea (2005); Amman (2007); Kobe, Japan (2011); Pune, India (2013); and Wuhan, China (2015).

Hup Wei said that winning the gold in the Asian meet in 2007 was “one of the best moments of my athletics career”.

“I was only 20 then and no match for the other top and experienced high jumpers from Asia. But I created history by defying the odds to win the gold,” said Hup Wei.

“That boosted my morale and a year later, in the China Open, I cleared 2.27m to break the national record and qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.”

His effort erased the previous mark of 2.24m set by Loo Kum Zee at the 1995 Chiang Mai SEA Games.

After 12 years of representing Malaysia, Hup Wei is hoping for another golden outing in the Asian meet.

“I will be up against the best high jumpers from Asia, so it would be nice if I can beat them to a podium finish,” he said.

Hup Wei beat national No. 1 Nauraj Singh Randhawa, who has a personal best of 2.29m, to the gold medal in the Australian Open in Sydney in April with a 2.24m clearance.

Nauraj will not feature in Asian meet as he is in Europe preparing for the World Athletics Championships in London from Aug 4-13.

The other top high jumpers who will feature in the Asian meet are China’s Zhang Guowei (personal best of 2.33m), China’s Bai Long (2.28m) and Syrian Majed Aldin Ghazel (2.30m).