Hup Wei highly motivated to make his mark at World Indoor
KUALA LUMPUR: High jumper Lee Hup Wei is hungry for more success.
He has proven himself in the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, in September by finishing a creditable eighth.
The 32-year-old Selangor athlete wants to repeat the feat in the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, from March 13-15.
The former Asian champion went to the world meet as a wild card but he upstaged the top high jumpers to be the first Malaysian to reach the final in the world meet. He did a personal best of 2.29m in Doha.
Hup Wei, who is ranked 16th in the world after his outing in the world meet, will also compete in the Asian Indoor Championships in Hangzhou, China, on Feb 12.
“It has been a good year for me in competitions and I want to continue to shine.
“My main goal next year is to compete in my first world indoor meet and also record a good jump to finish in a good position.
“I have proven myself in the world meet and want to repeat the feat at the world indoor. A good outing in the world indoor will be a good boost for me to qualify for my third Olympics,” said Hup Wei, who featured in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.
The Olympic qualifying mark for men’s high jump is 2.33m.
But for now, he wants to focus on the SEA Games. His target is to break the Games record in Philippines and win his fourth gold.
Hup Wei is among three athletes who hold the SEA Games record of 2.24m. The two other Malaysians are former international Loo Kum Zee and Nauraj Singh Randhawa.
Hup Wei will face a strong challenge from teammate Nauraj, who has a personal best of 2.30m, to win gold in the SEA Games.
At the 2017 KL SEA Games, Nauraj and Hup Wei both cleared the same height of 2.24m but Nauraj bagged gold on countback.