Thursday July 2, 2009
Melindar Kaur the toast of the Malacca open athletics meet
By PERCY D CRUZ
PENANG’S Melindar Kaur, a national back-up athlete, stole the show at the two-day Malacca Amateur Athletic Association Open and Junior Championships after breaking the national women’s 3,000m steeplechase record.
Winner of the event at the last two Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Kedah (2006) and Terengganu (2008), the 21-year pint-sized runner posted a time of 11:11.05 to eclipse the national best of 11:39.6 recorded by Malacca’s Valli Micheal in 2004.
The golden record effort assured Melindar of competing at the Asian Track and Field Athletic Champion-ships in Guangzhou, China, in mid-November.
National record: Melindar Kaur a national back-up athlete winning the women’s 3000m steeplechase gold with a national record to boot. However, she will not be featured at the Laos SEA Games in December as the women’s 3,000m steeplechase event is not listed in the athletics programme.
In all, some 480 athletes from all over Malaysia representing premier athletic clubs, state schools sports councils, state sports councils including from the police and armed forces, took part in the games held at Stadium Hang Jebat in Krubong.
Also in the fray were 13 male athletes from Saudi Arabia and Oman who were specially invited to take part.
In total, 10 open and 14 junior records entered the books apart from Melindar’s sole national record.
Among the notable national prospects who took the limelight while breaking meet records were Tan Song Hwa, Ahmad Najwan Aqra Hassaim, Asienny Asik, Adi Aliffudin Hussin and Mohd Jironi Riduan.
The women’s hammer throw introduced at the meet for the first time saw Song Hwa’s distance of 52.93m being listed as a record.
Century sprint:. Saudi Arabia’s Mahmoud Ibrahim (green) winning the men’s junior 100m. Ahmad Najwan won the men’s open high jump with a new height of 2.05m, eclipsing the previous best of 1.81m.
Asienny bagged the women’s open shot putt gold with a heave of 13.44m, well clear of the old mark of 9.85m set in 2005.
Adi was tops in the men’s open shot putt with a new distance of 15.84m, besting the old mark standing at 13.72m.
Mohd Jironi won the men’s open 1,500m gold, clocking 3:49.21, well ahead of the old record of 4:01.8 posted in 2005.
Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Ahmed Abkar and Yaseen Hassan Mohammad also hogged the limelight in the men’s junior 400m.
Up and over: Ahmad Najwan Aqra Hassaim winning the men’s open high jump gold medal with a new meet record of 2.05m. Abdullah clocked a new time of 52.32 as against the previous best of 54.04. Yaseen came out tops in the men’s junior high jump clearing 2.05m compared with the 2006 best of 1.81m.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union national selection committee official Karim Ibrahim said several national top athletes gave the Malacca meet a miss as they were competing in overseas competitions.
He added that the national open meet scheduled for October would serve as the final avenue to qualify for the Laos SEA Games in December.
Karim said among the national prospects qualifying for the Laos Games after beating qualifying times at four open state meets earlier this year include Loo Chong Siang and Teoh Boon Lim (men’s 20km walk), Yuan Yufang (women’s 20km walk), Roslinda Samsu (women’s pole vault), Noraseela Khalid (women’s 400m hurdles), Muhammad Hafizuddin Sahadan (men’s pole vault), Lee Hup Wei (men’s high jump) and Tan Song Hwa (women’s hammer throw).
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