National athletics counting on golden trio for SEA Games
We will focus more on the track since no gold medal was won in the (track) events in Hanoi.
Mohd Manshahar Abdul Jalil
KUALA LUMPUR: The national athletics squad are counting on three gold medal winners at the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam last May, to repeat their success in the next edition in Phnom Penh, Cambodia next year.
The trio comprises national men’s discus thrower Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin, Andre Anura Anuar who performed admirably in the men’s triple jump, and Nor Sarah Adi in the women’s pole vault.
In addition to these three, national athletics squad head coach Mohd Manshahar Abdul Jalil said his squad would also be focusing on runners competing in medium distances to help contribute to the country’s gold tally in Phnom Penh.
“We will focus more on the track since no gold medal was won in the (track) events in Hanoi,” he said when met after the ‘Athletes’ Gathering-Phase 1 of the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games’ at the National Sports Council (MSN) in Bukit Jalil here on Wednesday.
Two other gold medals won by the athletics camp in the last edition of the biennial games were contributed by Sarawakians, Jackie Wong (men’s hammer throw) and Grace Wong (women’s hammer throw); thus, making it a five-gold-medal haul by the athletics squad in Vietnam.
In the meantime, Mohd Manshahar did not rule out the possibility that the athletics squad would train abroad, possibly in Europe and Australia, in preparation for the 32nd SEA Games.
The Phnom Penh outing is scheduled to run from May 5 to 17 next year.