Sarawak Rake In The Most Gold Medals Again

KANGAR: The 54th edition of the National Schools Athletics Championships (MSSM) ended with Sarawak defending the overall title at the Stadium Utama yesterday.

Sarawak dominated the meet with a haul of 15 golds, 20 silvers and eight bronzes. Perak were a close second with a haul of 13-16-1 while the Federal Territory finished third on 9-5-10.

However, the final day was a tad disappointing in terms of performance as only one record was broken.

Perak’s Cheah Yau Chung (pic) clocked 22.45 to break Harith Ammar Mohd Sobri’s 22.50 set in 2009 in the boys’ Under-15 200m event.

Yau Chung’s team-mate Ahmad Fikri Hakim Abdul Manan finished second in 22.61 and Kedah’s Syazwan Syafik Mat Rizan was third in 22.75.

The final day of the five-day competition was also marred by another blunder by the MSSM officials.

The track officials forgot to fill the jump reservoir with water for the boys’ Under-18 3,000m steeplechase although the athletes were ready to race.

This forced the officials to postpone the race, scheduled in the morning, and causing a domino effect on the other races.

The delay spoiled sprinter R. Kirthana’s bid for a hat-trick of gold medals.

Having won the girls’ Under-15 100m gold medal on Wednesday, she had her sights on winning the 200m and long jump events yesterday.

The delay, however, saw her doing double duty at the same time – running the 200m race and competing in the long jump.

In the end, she won the long jump but could only grab a silver in the 200m.

When the jump reservoir was finally filled up and the track ready for use, the sun was already up it took its toll on the Under-18 boys competing in the 3,000m steeplechase.

S. Saranraj managed to clinch his second gold medal but the searing heat denied him the chance to improve on on his personal best.

The Pahang lad, who won the 5,000m gold on Thursday, said that the lack of proper warm-up before the race denied him the chance of breaking the record.

“We were told to warm up for the event at 8.40am but the event was delayed until 10.30am,” said Saranraj, who pulled his hamstring after crossing the finish line.

“There was also no fight from the other runners ... there was no one to spur me on in the final lap.