THE Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) may revise their projected 10-gold medals for the year-end Laos Sea Games. MAAU deputy president Karim Ibrahim said it was only fair to come up with a proper projection after the national championships in early October.
“Right now we will maintain our target at 10 gold medals based on current statistics,” said Karim. “While we believe the number is justified, it isn’t finalised. We will only be able to tell our prospects when we see our athletes competing against their peers from neighbouring countries in the national championships.
“We could set the target to less than 10 gold medals or maybe more.”
Among the athletes invited for the national meet include those from Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. The 10-gold promise was compromised when most national athletes failed to shine during the Mini Olympics in Bukit Jalil over the weekend.
The only record smashed during the meet was by Melinda Kaur in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase event. The Penangite clocked 11:04.14s to break her own record of 11:07.31s set at the Taiwan Open two weeks ago.
Pole vaulter Roslinda Samsu, meanwhile, cleared 4.35m at the Mini Olympics to earn her ticket to the world championships from Aug 15-23 in Berlin. Hurdler Noraseela Khalid will be forced to sit out the world meet while MAAU are hoping to include Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian on the flight to Germany as a wild card entrant.
“Lee Hup Wei (high jumper) is the best in Asia and thus he is our medal prospect in Laos. There’s also Noraseela, who will be competing in the 400m and 400m hurdles and based on her timings, we are banking on two gold medals from her,” added Karim.
Among the other medal prospects include hammer thrower Tan Song Hwa, walkers Yuan Yufang, Teoh Boon Lim, Lo Choon Sieng, middle distance runners S. Mathialagan, M. Vadivellan and Jeroni Reduan. MAAU are also banking on their men’s and women’s 4x400m teams.
Meanwhile, Karim stressed there was a dire need for MAAU and NSC to understand the true objective of the Mini Olympics.
“When you pit a local athlete against another local athlete, it is not competition. It’s no better than training. “It will only be a competitive affair if we have foreign athletes competing as well. We will surely bring up this matter and hope to find a solution soon.”
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