Coach: Nauraj’s indoor high jump national record yet to be ratified
KUALA LUMPUR: The 2.27m mark set by national high jumper Nauraj Singh Randhawa at the Hvezdy v Nehvizdech indoor athletics meet in the Czech Republic on Sunday (Jan 30) has yet to be ratified as a new national record.
But national athletics head coach Mohd Manshahar Abdul Jalil said that technically, the mark surpassed Nauraj’s own previous national indoor high jump record of 2.20m, which he had set at the Vienna Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2021.
He said the 2.27m mark would only be ratified by the Malaysian Athletics Union (MAU) after they have reviewed all the information and documents from World Athletics.
“Nauraj’s achievement is officially acknowledged by World Athletics but all the documents and evidence must be produced before the MAU Statistics Committee meeting for confirmation... that is the normal procedure,” he said when contacted by Bernama on Friday.
He said that based on the 2.27m mark, Nauraj, who has already qualified on merit for the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam (May 12-23), has technically qualified for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 10-25).
“He can be considered to have qualified but because it (the 2.27m jump) was done in an indoor meet, the matter has to be confirmed first.
“In terms of performance, indoor and outdoor competitions are not the same.
“If the OCM (Olympic Council of Malaysia) and MAU agree to accept it (the 2.27m), then the mark can be used (for him to qualify for the Asiad),” he said.
Mohd Manshahar said the 30-year-old Nauraj, however, has yet to qualify for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28-Aug 8) as the qualifying mark is 2.30m.
Nauraj had set the 2.27m mark at the championships in Tipsport Arena in Prague on Sunday (Jan 30), three days after clearing 2.22m at another indoor meet, also in Prague.
The three-time SEA Games gold medallist emerged second in both meets.
“I believe that this is a good start to the year for him ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Asiad. For the SEA Games, he is currently the number one ranking high jumper based on the statistics that I have.
“So, for the Asian Games, he will have to do much better. However, he has shown good development. Although these are indoor meets, his achievements show that the training stint in Europe has been beneficial,” said Mohd Manshahar.
For the record, Nauraj also holds the national outdoor high jump record of 2.30m, which he set at the Singapore Open in 2017.