Look After Yourself Well

JOHOR BAHARU, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- The Korat-bound Malaysian athletes have been told to stay alert as they go about their daily life to keep themselves fit and strong for the SEA Games in Thailand.

With the Games only three weeks away, chief coach Hanafiah Nasir is disturbed by recent events which saw two potential gold medallists in Korat injuring themselves.

One is Shahadan Jamaluddin, the defending men's 400m hurdles champion who was involved in a car accident during the Hari Raya holidays. As a result of the injuries suffered, he is out of the Games.

Then Josbert Tinus, the national men's long jump record holder at 7.88m and a good bet for a gold in Korat, sustained knee and foot injury after falling off his motorcycle in Kuala Lumpur last week but he is expected to recover and compete in Korat.

"These (accidents) are things which are beyond our control. But we can always be more careful and alert. That's my message to the Malaysian athletes. The Games is very near and we need to be at our best.

"To a certain extent, we can look after ourselves well. Watch what we eat; have enough rest and if we are on the road don't be reckless," said Hanafiah.

But the good news is that the Sabah-born Josbert has been declared 100 per cent fit for Korat. Team officials took him to the doctor on Monday where he was given a thorough examination and they found nothing wrong.

"He only suffered vey minor injuries and in fact there was no need for a scan. No problems, Josbert is in training right now," said MAAU vice-president Karim Ibrahim.

Malaysia are eyeing 10 gold medals from track and field in Korat which starts on Dec 7, a little better than the eight they won in Manila two years ago.

-- BERNAMA