Russel misses the mark and settles for silver
KUALA LUMPUR: There was no early birthday present for Russel Nasir Taib.
Expectation was high on the 200m athlete to clock another good time in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
But Russel, who will turn 21 on Friday, posted a slow time of 21.12 to win a silver at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Sunday.
His efforts was way off his national record of 20.77 clocked in the Queensland Track Classic in Brisbane on March 23.
Taiwan’s Wei Tai-sheng hit the tape in 21.00 to win the gold while his teammate Yeh Shou-po clocked 21.24 to finish third.
Russel was clearly not pleased with his performance.
“I believe I could have done better. But you can’t always do a personal best in competitions,” said Russel.
“I need to do a few assessment on my performance and see how I can peak for the Asian Championships (in Doha, Qatar, from April 21-24).”
Lee Hup Wei stole the limelight in the meet with a season best 2.27m to win the gold in the high jump.
The former Asian champion is happy with his achievement as it confirmed his ticket for the Asian meet.
“My mission in Doha is to surpass my personal best of 2.28m which I did in Canberra last year,” said Hup Wei, who soared 2.24m to win gold in the Asian meet in Jordan in 2007.
Meanwhile, 110m hurdler Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian’s hopes of featuring in the Asian meet was dashed when he broke his right wrist.
National coach Zainal Abas said that Rayzam, who returned to Sabah yesterday, would need about four months to recover.