New shot put records created at meet
MALAYSIA’S Grace Wong Xiu Mei stole the limelight in the
MOE-WALAA-SSSC Little Athletics championships at the National Stadium in
Bukit Jalil recently.
Grace, a Form Two student at the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS),
created a new record in shot put in the Girls’ Under-14 category in the
two-day championships.
Grace hurled the put to a new distance of 13.95m to erase the old
record of 13.15m held by Australia’s Melissa Delich since 1994. In
second place was teammate J. Pavithraa Devi (12.42m) while Australia’s
Brianra Stewart (11.50m) was third.
Besides the shot put, Grace also won the gold in discus with an
impressive distance of 36.24m. Australians Jessica Siviour (33.74m) and
Gypsy De Ruyter (30.42m) were second and third respectively.
The ever smiling Grace was happy with
her results and was looking forward to
represent Malaysia in other age-group competitions.
Singapore’s Jordan Chia Ting Xuan also got his name into the record
books. His record came in shot put in the Boys’ Under-14 age group. He
cleared 16.08m and erased the five-year-old recond of 15.70m set by
Malaysia’s Ong Chin Yong in 2008.
Malaysia’s Andre Anura was also in good form and equaled the Boys’ Under-15 long jump record of 6.60m.
The championships, catering for the Under-14 and Under-15 age groups for both boys and girls, was initiated by the BJSS.
Western Australia Little Athletics Association (WALAA) and Singapore
Schools Sports Council (SSSC) were also invited for the meet.
BJSS principal Datuk Marina Chin said the annual championships was a
platform for Form One and Form Two students to gauge their progress.
“There is no competition for athletes in these two age groups. This
event gives the coaches a chance to evaluate the students’ progress.
“We are pleased with the athletes’ enthusiasm. They get the chance
to compete against their counterparts from Australia and Singapore. Some
of our athletes have shown remarkable improvement.
“This year there were only records in the field events. We were
unable to utilise electronic timing for the track events,’’ said Marina.
She was also pleased with athletes Grace, Quennie Ting Kun Ni , Norris Foo and Siti Nur Afiqah Abdul Razak.
Quennie won the gold medal in discus in the Girls’ Under-15 age
group with a 39.74 effort while Norris, taking part in the Girls’
Under-15, was impressive in the 100m hurdles and 200m. Siti Nur Afiqah
showed her progress in the 400m and 800m.
Marina, a former international, said they would be happy if some of
the athletes were selected for the Asian Schools Athletics championships
to be held in Malaysia later this year.
Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan, who officiated at the
closing ceremony, praised the BJSS for organising the championships.
“Our athletes need valuable exposure. The meet has attracted some of
the top juniors from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. There is a
strong possibility of some of these athletes earning their stripes and
representing their country in the Asian Games and Olympics,’’ said
Kamalanathan.
The coaches from the countries were also given the responsibility to select their best athletes in the age groups.
Malaysia became the overall champions after winning 35 gold, 33
silver and 22 bronze medals. Western Australia were second with 24 gold,
20 silver and 34 bronze while Singapore settled for the third spot on
five gold, 11 silver and eight bronze.
Singapore will host the next edition of the championships next year.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Community/2013/07/25/New-shot-put-records-created-at-meet-Malaysian-youngsters-display-impressive-performance-against-f.aspx
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