PHNOM PENH: The national men’s 4x400-metre (m) quartet ended the country’s 10-year medal drought when they clinched bronze on the last day of the 2023 SEA Games athletics competition here today.
Umar Osman, Abdul Wafiy Roslan, Muhammad Firdaus Mohamad Zemi and S. Tarshan clocked 3 minutes and 08.82 seconds (s) to finish third, equalling the feat Malaysia last achieved at the 2013 edition in Myanmar.
The Philippine quartet romped to the gold medal in the 4x400m event at the Morodok Techo National Stadium in 3:07.22s while Thailand settled for silver in 3:07.23s.
Umar told Malaysian reporters that he was happy to have done his part in ensuring his compatriots managed to get their hands on a medal after he had clinched the 400m gold on Tuesday (May 9) in style, clocking 46.34s to break the almost 22-year-old previous national mark of 46.41s set by Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin at the Asian Junior Championships in Brunei in July 2001.
“Today’s run wasn’t so good. I could see two runners ahead of me who were faster and the gap kept growing. Although I was tired, I never gave up (until the finish line) despite another runner trying to overtake me,” he said.
He is also confident that the new quartet that was only formed last month can spring a surprise in the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand if given sufficient exposure and space to forge a more solid understanding and compatibility.
After finishing seventh in the men’s 400m here, Abdul Wafiq was elated to get on the podium and present the country with a bronze medal while Tarshan was proud to have won a medal in his maiden appearance in the biennial Games.
In the women’s 4x400m final, the national quartet of Chelsea Cassiopea Evali Bopulas, Mandy Goh Li, Nurul Aliah Maisarah and 400m gold medallist Shereen Samson Vallabouy missed out on a podium finish after coming out fourth - and last - in 3:39.89s.
Vietnam (3:33.05s) came in first, followed by the Philippines (3:37.75s) and Thailand (3:39.29s).
In the field event, Mohamad Eizlan Dahalan leapt to a bronze medal in the men’s high jump after clearing 2.15m.
Thailand’s Tawan Kaeodam then stole the show when he set a new Games record of 2.27m to erase the previous mark of 2.24m that was jointly held by three Malaysians - Loo Kum Zee (in the 1995 edition) as well as Nauraj Singh Randhawa and Lee Hup Wei (2017 edition).
Vietnam’s Duc Anh Vu took the silver with a 2.17m effort. - Bernama
