Irfan to the ‘four’
One throw is enough to bag his fourth discus gold
NATIONAL discus thrower Mohd Irfan Shamsuddin is not one to let any obstacle stand in his way, least of all a ligament injury which he suffered recently.
And it took just one throw for him to win his fourth consecutive gold medal at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium.
The 24-year-old who won the title in Myanmar 2013, Singapore 2015 and Kuala Lumpur 2017 repeated the feat when he threw a distance of 57.29m in his first attempt yesterday.
It was far short of his personal best of 62.55m set in Austria in 2017 but well ahead of the 51.38m that the Philippines’ Morrison William
III managed for silver.
Thailand’s Narong Benjarron threw 51.29m for the bronze.
Irfan’s teammate Abdul Rahman Lee came in fourth with 51.19m.
Irfan’s next four throws were called foul and he did not need to take the sixth because he was already certain of the gold.
“I actually injured my ligament two weeks ago before the competition but I kept on fighting and it was enough today,” said Irfan.
“This time, there were many competitors for this event compared to the last Games, nine of us.
“It’s encouraging to see the field grow.
“This fourth gold is a great way to end the year and I have to thank my family and coach for this.”
With Irfan’s gold, Malaysia wrapped up their athletic’s competition by meeting the target of five gold medals.
Mohd Haiqal Hanafi (100m), Lee Hup Wei (high jump), Mohd Hakimi Ismail (triple jump) and Yap Sean Yee (women’s high jump) delivered the other four.
In the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, Ahmad Luth Hamizan finished just short of a medal coming in fourth with a time of 9:29.91.
Vietnam’s Quo Luat Do came in on top with a time of 9:04.50 while teammate Trung Chuing Nguyen was second with a time of 9:04.54 and Indonesia’s defending champion Atjong Tio Purwanto only getting the bronze with a time of 9:10.02.
In the men’s 4x400m relay, Malaysia came in fourth clocking 3:09.80 just behind third-placed Philippines on 3:08.63.
The national runners were Luqmanul Hakim Khairul Akmal, Mohd Ilham Suhaimi, Mohd Saiful
Safwan Saifuddin and Abdul
Wadiy Roslan.
Vietnam finished top with a time of 3:08.07 and Thailand took silver on 3:08.20.
In the women’s 4x400m relay, Vietnam again topped with a time of 3:34.64 ahead of Thailand with 3:39.78 for the silver and Philippines with 3:43.41 for the bronze.
The women’s national runners of Fathin Faqihah Mohd Yusuf, Nurul Faizah Asma Mazlan, Joginder Singh and Teoh Kim Chyi came in fifth with a time of 3:47.00.