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Sunday November 15, 2009

Age is no hurdle for Noraseela as she eyes Laos gold

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Noraseela Khalid, still on a high after winning a silver in the women’s 400m hurdles at the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in Guangzhou on Friday, has set sights on a SEA Games gold medal next.

And the 30-year-old is glad to have proven that age does not matter as she clocked 57.15 in China to take the silver medal — her second in the ATF following a similar feat in Manila in 2005.

Noraseela, who has also bagged the bronze medal in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, has missed the last two SEA Games because of injuries.

Prior to that, she won the gold medal in Brunei (1999) and Vietnam (2003) and a silver in Kuala Lumpur (2001).

But for the Laos SEA Games next month, the Rawang hurdler has set herself a lofty target.

“My six-month training stint in South Africa earlier this year has certainly paid off. I definitely want to sign off the year with a gold in Laos,” said Noraseela.

Had it not been for Noraseela, Malaysia would have ended their ATF campaign in Guangzhou empty-handed.

Even Lee Hup Wei and Roslinda Samsu – defending champions in the men’s high jump and women’s pole vault respectively – failed to deliver.

The 22-year-old Hup Wei, who holds the national record of 2.27m, could only clear 2.15m to finish fifth while 27-year-old Roslinda, who has the personal best of 4.40m, managed 3.60m to finish fifth as well.

Meanwhile in the men’s 4x400m, the quartet of Mohd Idris Zakaria, P. Yuvaaraj, Mohd Zafril Mohd Zuslaini and Mohd Saiful Zainal Abidin clocked 3:11.37 to finish seventh.

Overall, it has been a disappointing performance by the 22 athletes — comprising 12 men and 10 women — as none managed to even surpass their personal bests.

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