KUALA LUMPUR: Hammer thrower Tan Song Hwa rewrote her national record with a throw of 58.60m to clinch the gold medal on the first day of the Thailand Open athletics championships at the Thammasat University in Bangkok yesterday.
It eclipsed her previous mark of 57.55m, which was set at the Taiwan Open on May 29 last year.
It also earned the 25-year-old Pahang lass a place in the Asian Track and Field (ATF) championships in Kobe, Japan, from July 6-8 as she surpassed the qualifying mark of 56.85m.
Song Hwa said in a telephone interview yesterday that she was glad “that all my hard work in training is paying off”.
Great throw: Tan Song Hwa rewrote the national record with a throw of 58.60m at the Thailand Open in Bangkok yesterday
“My mission was to break the record in the Thailand Open and I did it grand style – by more than one metre. I am also happy that my effort of 58.60m has earned me a place in the ATF meet,” said Song Hwa, who has been the national hammer thrower since 2005.
Song Hwa, who only managed 54.80m in the Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur last week, said she would continue to train hard to break the 59m barrier in the ATF meet.
Song Hwa, who won the Laos SEA Games gold medal with a hurl of 56.41m, has also set a lofty target for the Indonsia Games in November.
“Not only do I want to defend my gold medal in Indonesia, but I also hope to hurl the hammer more than 60m in the biennial Games,” she said.
Team manager S. Arunandy said they were proud with Song Hwa’s efforts in breaking the national record at the four-day meet.
“She has the potential to be a good hammer thrower in Asia,” said Arunandy.
Malaysia also won a bronze medal in the men’s 110m hurdles in the Thailand Open through Mohd Aijmal Aiman (14.60).
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