NATIONAL long and triple jumper Andre Anura Anuar (pic) has posted a video of himself going through his paces and leaping really far. He says it would be his last jump in Malaysia before the Asian Games.
The Sabahan hopes to reach a greater distance in Hangzhou, as he bids to break the national record for the triple jump, and hopefully rewrite his record for the long jump as well.
The 24-year-old will leave to China today for his Asian Games debut at the Olympic Sports Park Stadium on Saturday.
In the long jump, his best is 8.02m – the national record – while for the triple jump, his pet event, his best is 16.51m.
The triple jump national record of 16.77m is held by Mohd Hakimi Ismail.
This year, Andre’s best in the long jump is 7.62m, which he recorded at the Asian Championships in July. As for the triple jump, he managed 16.10m in the Queensland Sports and Athletics Championships in April.
Though nowhere near his best, Andre has been working hard for the past six weeks, with the hope of breaking those records.
“It’s not going to be easy competing for medals as the other athletes are much better. I just want to smash the national records,” he said.
“These six weeks has been all about gym work, taking part in invitational events and having lots of discussions with my coach (Firdaus Salim).
The Indians are favourites for the long jump as two of their jumpers – Jeswin Aldrin and Sreeshankar – have a season-best of 8.42m and 8.41m respectively. Taiwan Lin Yu-tang recorded 8.40m this season.
In the triple jump, India’s Praveen Chithravel is the best in Asia with a season-best of 17.37m, while China’s Zhu Yaming is close behind on 17.36m.
Firdaus said a lot of focus was done on Andre’s technique after the Asian Championships in July.
“Actually, his body is a bit tight but there are no injuries. That is why these six weeks were important for us to make him understand the rigours of the Asian Games,” he said.
