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Tuesday November 10, 2009

Difficult for Hup Wei, Roslinda to defend ATF crowns

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will be hard pressed to defend the two gold medals in the 18th Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships, which begin in Guangzhou, China, today.

High jumper Lee Hup Wei created history when he became the first Malaysian to win a gold in the field event in Jordan two years ago by clearing a height of 2.24m.

Roslinda Samsu delivered the second gold by clearing 4.20m in the women’s pole vault.

Both these athletes, however, will face an uphill task to retain their titles this time.

The 22-year-old Hup Wei, of Selangor, who holds the national record of 2.27m, will have his work cut out as his challengers – Kazakhstan’s Sergey Zassimovich and Japan’s Daigo Naoyuki – have cleared 2.28m this season.

Hup Wei, who competed in the Beijing Olympics last year, admitted that it would be very difficult for him to repeat his feat of two years ago.

“I surprised everyone in Jordan two years ago but it will be tough to do it again,” said Hup Wei.

Roslinda’s performance too has been on the slide. With a personal best of 4.40m, she failed to clear the starting height of 3.80m in the Taiwan International pole vault meet in July.

Then, last month, she again failed to clear the starting height of 3.50m in the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil.

Her stongest challengers – China’s Lu Caixia and Wu Sha – also have a personal best of 4.40m.

This has left the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) counting on pint-sized Melinder Kaur, who broke the national record three times in the 3,000m steeplechase, for a surprise gold.

But the 21-year-old Penangite, who has a personal best of 11:04.14, will need to dip below 11 minutes just to get on the podium.

MAAU are also banking on veteran Noraseela Khalid, who missed the 2007 ATF because of injury, for a medal in the women’s 400m hurdles.

Malaysia will be represented by 22 athletes – 12 men and 10 women.

The men who will in action today are Mohd Idris Zakaria and Mohd Noor Imran (100m), Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin and Mohd Zafril Mohd Zuslaini (400m) and M. Vadivellan and Mohd Jironi Riduan (1,500m) while the women are Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaludin and Nurul Sarah Abdul Kadir (100m).

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