Jackie Wong hammers own national record again
KUALA LUMPUR: The silver medal feat by national hammer throw champion Jackie Wong Siew Chear at the Korean Open Athletics Championship is a positive development for athletics ahead of the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, said the Malaysian Athletics Federation ( MAF).
MAF president Datuk Karim Ibrahim said Jackie Wong’s throw of 65.34m also erased his old national record of 64.67m that was set during the Thailand Open Athletics Championships on June 14.
“That is another positive development. It was the best achievement by a Malaysian athlete at the Asian level. Apart from Jackie Wong, a number of national athletes have also shown marked improvement in their performances,” he said.
The gold medal was won by Lee Ywun Chul from South Korea with a distance of 71.21m while Jang Sang Jin, also from the host country, settled for third place with a throw of 63.80m.
“Syabas! Jackie, for setting a new national record. It was his best personal achievement and for Malaysia as well because he had also managed to overcome his arch rival from Thailand. That achievement gives us additional hope of doing well in the SEA Games,” he told Bernama when contacted yesterday.
Meanwhile, national sprinter Jonathan Neypa also put up a splendid performance at the meet to win the silver medal in the 100m, en route to improving his personal best time after clocking 10.28s against his previous best of 10.36s.
South Korea’s Kim Kok Young clinched the gold medal with a time of 10.07s while Lee Jaeha, also from South Korea clocked 10.41s to take the bronze medal.
“I am happy with the consistent per formanc e of Jonathan Neypa although he does not participate in many races.
“To me, Jonathan Neypa is on par with Khairul Hafiz Jantan, the country’s other national sprinter. I will list both of them for the men’s 100m event in the SEA Games.
“No other sprinter comes close to the duo’s performance. Both have managed to overcome ‘ The Flying Dayak’ Watson Nyambek’s record (10.30sec) and I believe both can provide stiff competition in the SEA Games competition,” said Karim.
Karim said the list of athletes selected for the SEA Games and the medal target for athletics would be announced by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin soon.
Meanwhi le, athletics head coach Zainal Abas said based on the current performances of athletes, he was confident that Malaysian athletes would perform better than the previous edition.