CELEBRATION THEN TEARS FOR NURUL
Kelantan lass finished first but was disqualified for ‘floating’
NURUL Alyahaziqah Kamarazaman crossed the finish line first in the women’s 5,000m walk event at the Malaysia Games yesterday but the Kelantan athlete was disqualified for floating by officials at the Perak Stadium.
Understandably, Nurul was in tears after the 17-year-old found out that she was disqualified after two warnings during the race.
Kelantan’s contingent official Ghani Seman questioned the disqualification as his athlete was only informed after crossing the finish line.
He said if Nurul had broken the rules for floating then she should have been told to leave the track during the race. Ghani claimed that the athlete was only informed when she was celebrating her gold medal success.
Nurul’s disqualification was a blessing for Pahang’s Koong Jia Lin, who crossed the finish line in second place, as she was promoted to the top of the podium with a time of 27:35.26 seconds.
Federal Territories’ Nurul Ashikin Hussin (28:01.85s) won the silver, followed by Selangor’s Laura Tan (30:00.4s).
In the men’s shot put, Johor’s Farm Loong Deng was in pain following a left thigh problem but he still managed to win the gold with a personal best throw.
He recorded 15.14m in his sixth attempt to better his previous personal best of 14.67m.
Federal Territories’ Loh Cen Hao won the silver in 14.01m, followed by Sabah’s Zulkifli Saidin (13.90m).
In men’s long jump, Johor’s Norshafiee Shah retained his gold medal with a leap of 2.06m, followed by Sabah’s Eizlan Dahalan (2.03m) and Kedah’s Amer Haiqal Ismail (2.00m).