HANOI: Malaysia’s dominance in the SEA Games men’s high jump event since 2005, came to a sad end as Nauraj Singh Randhawa settled for silver at the My Dinh National Stadium here today.
The country had previously won the men’s high jump gold medal in every edition of the SEA Games since 1977, except in the 2005 SEA Games in Manila, where Nguyen Duy Bang of Vietnam claimed the top spot.
Malaysia’s 30-year-old lanky jumper only managed to clear his best leap of 2.18 metre (m) - far lower than his national record of 2.30m set during the 2017 Singapore Open - to retain the silver medal he won at the Philippines edition, as the last edition’s gold medalist and compatriot Lee Hup Wei has retired.
After clearing the heights of 2.04m, 2.15m and 2.18m, he wasn’t able to clear the 2.21m and 2.23m marks to edge Thailand’s Kobsit Sittichai, who claimed the gold with a 2.21m leap.
Meanwhile, debutant Mohamad Eizlan Dahalan cleared his new personal best of 2.18m to claim the bronze for Malaysia.
Talking to the reporters after the event, Nauraj Singh said though it was a bitter pill to swallow, he had to accept the fact that he couldn’t perform at his best today.
“I don’t really know, actually how I am feeling. I came here with the intention to win, losing at a stage like this doesn’t happen often to me, but in the end, it is something that I accept and I applaud my opponent because we both did our best.
“Second place isn’t something I look down upon either. This is my fifth SEA Games and 10 years of my journey since Myanmar. I am very proud of that,” he said.
Nauraj Singh won three consecutive SEA Games gold medals in 2013 (Naypyidaw), 2015 (Singapore) and 2017 (Kuala Lumpur).
But the Johorean lost the title to Hup Wei at the 2019 Philippines Games on the countback rule, with Hup Wei winning his fourth gold after the ones he bagged in the 2007, 2009 and 2011 editions. - Bernama
