Coach Gu Yuan sets new mark for hammer thrower Jackie

KUALA LUMPUR: One of the many roles of a coach is to challenge his athletes to reach higher standards.

Chinese woman coach Gu Yuan needs no reminders about that. She is pushing national hammer thrower Jackie Wong Siew Cheer (pic) to raise the bar by hitting the 67-metre mark in this year’s competitions.

After grooming Jackie for five years, Gu Yuan believes that it is time for him hit new heights.

“Jackie is a dedicated athlete. He has shown steady progress since I started coaching him five years ago,” said Gu Yuan, the 2002 Busan Asian Games gold medallist.

“He just needs to have the self-belief that he can continue to break his national record.”

The Sarawakian has broken his own national record 10 times in the last five years.

Jackie dominated his event at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last August when he broke the Games as well as the national record with a hurl of 65.90m.

He erased the previous SEA Games record of 65.63m set by Filipino Caleb Stuart in Singapore in 2015.

Jackie is among 18 athletes recommended by the Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15.

The 25-year-old Jackie is all fired up to make an impact in Australia.

“I’ve improved by leaps and bounds under Gu Yuan. I’ll be out to achieve the new mark she has set for me,” said Jackie, who featured in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

“Last year, I attended a training stint in Mokpo (South Korea) for six weeks.

“It was beneficial. My technique has improved and I’m more confident too.”

Jackie will get a chance to meet Gu Yuan’s target at the pre-Asian Games athletics meet in Jakarta from Feb 10-18.

“I’ll be competing against the best in Asia in this meet. Hopefully, it will push me to outdo myself,” said Jackie, whose last competition was the KL SEA Games.

The others competing in Jakarta are Jonanthan Nyepa (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap (100m, 4x100m), Nixson Kennedy ( 100m, 4x100m), Muhammd Haiqal Hanafi (100m, 4x100m), Khairul Hafiz Jantan (4x100m), G. Aravin Thevar (200m, 400m), Abdul Wafiey Roslan (400m, 4x100m), Asif Rahman (800m), Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian ( 110m hurdles), K. Prabudass (5,000m), Lee Hup Wei (high jump), Muhd Hakimi Ismail (triple jump), Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli (100m, 200m), Yap Sean Yee (high jump), R. Kirthana ( triple jump) and Nurfazira Jalaludin (hammer).