NEW CLARK CITY: The national’s athletics squad haul of five gold, nine silver and seven bronze medals at the 30th SEA Games in the Philippines is seen as one of its most successful campaigns outside home soil since the Palembang edition in 2011.
Head coach Mohd Manshahar Abd Jalil has been a happy man since the competition ended yesterday, especially with the icing on the cake coming in the form of Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi’s surprise gold in the men’s 100m final.
The Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School student’s superb run in the blue ribbon event in 10.35 seconds meant that Malaysia got to defend the gold won by Khairul Hafiz Jantan at the Kuala Lumpur edition two years ago.
“Overall, I am very happy and satisfied with the squad’s total haul this time around and this was a collective effort from the athletes and the coaching staff,” he said when met by reporters at the end of the athletics competition last night.
Mohd Manshahar was also not too deeply concerned about with the failure of hammer throwers, Jacky Wong Siew Cheer and Grace Wong Xiu Mei to defend their gold this time, adding that a post-mortem will be done on their performance.
Jacky and Grace only managed best distance throws of 63.83 metres and 55.82 metres respectively, and had to settle for the silver.
Mohd Manshahar also revealed that the coaching team will soon draft a long term programme to ensure the athletes were fully prepared for the next SEA Games in Vietnam in 2021.
“As for the Tokyo Olympics next year, we (coaches) will wait for the athletes to qualify before working on specially tailored training programmes for them,” Mohd Manshahar, a former national athlete, said.
Squad team manager, Salehuddin Satar who also shared Mohd Manshahar’s views, described the team’s performance as outstanding, citing high jumper Yap Sean Yee, who won the gold and long jumper Andre Anura Anuar, who despite breaking the 8-metre barrier and the national record, only managed the silver, as examples.
Andre’s jump of 8.02 metres wiped out the national record of 7.88 metres set by Josbert Tinus at the Thailand Open in 2007, while Yap ended a 46-year drought for a women’s high jump SEA Games gold, the last of which was won by Gladys Chai in Jakarta in 1973.
“I am thankful to Allah S.W.T for these five gold medals, it is very meaningful, especially for all Malaysians, and the Malaysian Athletics Federation. Muhammad Haiqal’s gold, especially, was totally unexpected,” Sallehudin, who is Johor Athletics Association deputy president, said.
Besides the trio, Malaysia also clinched two more athletics gold through seasoned athletes, Lee Hup Wei (high jump) and Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin (discus). — Bernama
