Hammer thrower Grace in trouble for going AWOL

KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s hammer thrower Grace Wong Xiu Mei has gone AWOL (absence without leave) and it could land her into trouble.

Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk Karim Ibrahim is in the dark over her whereabouts.

All he knows is that Grace went back to Kuching last year to be with her grandmother.

“She has not competed in any competition this year. We have been trying to contact her but to no avail,” said Karim.

“We are not sure whether she is still training or she is taking a long break.

The Sarawak lass won bronze in the Singapore SEA Games in 2015 at the age of 15. Two years later in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, she broke the Games record with a hurl of 59.24m en route to winning the gold medal.

Grace, who trains under coach Gu Yuan of China, also holds the national record of 60.99m, which she set in a competition in Mokpo, South Korea in April last year.

Her last competition was the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Ipoh last September where she retained the title with a 56.51m throw.

Karim wants her to represent Malaysia in the Philippines SEA Games from Nov 30-Dec 11 as she is the best in the region.

“She has a good prospect of retaining gold in the Games. We have given her until next month to contact us and compete in a meet to prove that she is still interested in featuring in the SEA Games,” said Karim.

“Otherwise we will consider that she is not keen to represent the country.

Meanwhile, Malaysian athletes finished empty-handed on the third day of the Thailand Open Track and Field championships in Bangkok yesterday.

In the women’s long jump, Mahira Hanis Ishak finished fourth with a 5.57m leap at the Suphachalasi National Stadium while national para athlete Siti Noor Radiah Ismail cleared 5.01m to finish seventh.

In the men’s 1,500m final, Putra Azrul Syazwan Azman clocked 4:17.82 to finish ninth.