Malaysia again excellent in SEA Games athletics
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has regained excellent results in track and field events at the SEA Games when it grabbed 25 medals overall, of which eight were gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals out of the 45 events contested.
It was the best achievement after the last time Malaysia hosted the Games in 2001 and the one in 2003 in Vietnam where Malaysia had won eight gold medals on both occasions.
At the Singapore SEA Games two years ago, the national squad returned home with only three gold medals, a decline from the four gold medals won in Myanmar in 2013.
It was not merely defending the three golds won in Singapore, the national squad also broke three SEA Games records and seven national records throughout the five days at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
The achievement of eight gold medals including the one won by Khairul Hafiz Jantan in the men’s 100m sprint has put Malaysia in third placing overall, only one gold behind Thailand who was beaten by Vietnam as the King of Athletics at the SEA Games.
Vietnam grabbed 17 gold medals, shocking Thailand who had all this while dominated athletics and had to accept the count of nine golds this time compared with the 17 achieved in Singapore.
Besides Khairul Hafiz, Malaysia’s resurgence was contributed by Jackie Wong Siew Cheer (men’s hammer throw), Grace Wong Xiu Mei (women’s hammer throw) and Muhammad Hakimi Ismail (men’s triple jump) all of whom broke the SEA Games record, Muhammad Irfan Samsuddin defended the gold in discuss throw, Elena Goh Ling Yin (women’s 10,000m walk), high jumper Nauraj Singh defended the event by equalising the SEA Games record made by former national champion Loo Kum Zee and Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian who returned to be champion of the 110m hurdles after a decade.
The athletics squad also expressed confidence through silver medalists K. Prabudass (men’s 5,000m), Choo Kang Ni (women’s discus throw) and bronze medalists Royson Vincent (men’s 800m) and Yeap Sean Yee (women’s high jump) and also Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli who became the first para athlete to win a medal in the SEA Games with a bronze in the shot put.