KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian track and field contingent are in their highest spirit to compete against the best athletes at the 24th Korat SEA Games in Thailand next month.
National athletics head coach Hanapiah Nasir said that all his athletes whom he personally dubbed as "The Warriors" were ready to rumble out against other athletes from the 10 competing countries.
"All of them are ready to fight till the end for the glory of this country," he told reporters at the end of an official visit by the games' Chief-de-Mission Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad at the National Sports Centre in Bukit Jalil, here today.
The Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) has targeted 10 gold medals, two more than the eight won at the Manila Sea Games in 2005.
"They trained hard in the past months and now we will wait and see the outcome," he said, adding that they had expressed their willlingness to work hard to achieve the best.
Malaysia's best hopes for gold medals in the men's events are defending champion Mohammad Shahrulhaizy Abdul Rahman (20km walk), Lee Hup Wei (high jump), Muhammad Faiz Muhammad (110m hurdles) and Josbert Tinus (long jump).
Meanwhile, the women's potential gold medalists are Norseela Khalid (400m hurdles), defending champion Roslinda Samsu (pole vault), Moh Siew Wei (triple jump), Yuan Yu Fang (20km walk) and Siti Shahida Abdullah (hammer throw).
Nevertheless, Malaysia's athletic camp has had some hiccups after its national men's long jump record holder (7.88m), Sabahan Josbert Tinus and a potential gold medalist in Korat, sustained injuries after falling off his motorcycle, but had fully recovered and continued with his daily training.
However, Shahadan Jamaluddin, the defending men's 400m hurdles champion had been ruled out from the games after he sustained injuries from a car accident during the Hari Raya holidays recently.
Track and field offers 45 gold medals and will kick off from Dec 6 till 15 at the Korat Sports Complex in Pakthongchai Road.
-- BERNAMA
.gif)
No comments:
Post a Comment