Thursday, November 10, 2011

Athletics: Injured but Noraseela is confident

NORASEELA Khalid is eyeing her fourth Sea Games 400m hurdles gold despite the veteran claiming she has not completely recovered from her achilles injury.


Noraseela, 33, would have preferred an earlier race before the final but said the one race is an advantage for her to defend the gold medal she won in Laos two years ago.

Noraseela, who also won gold in 1999 and 2003 and a silver in Kuala Lumpur in 2001, is confident of the gold although she expects younger competitors from Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia to push her to the limit.

"One race is a big advantage for me as I have not completely recovered from the achilles injury. I am not looking forward to setting any records but just go for gold and I am confident," said Noraseela at the Sultan Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang yesterday.
"I had been training for 38 days at the University of Pretoria and I am looking forward to winning my fourth gold here. There should be several juniors pushing me but I believe I can overcome the challenge.

"I have been running for a long while now and it is sad to see no juniors from our country to replace me.

"My job here is to prove I can still deliver and will not hold back." Noraseela has been consistently plagued by the injury which resulted in her finishing seventh in the Asian Track and Field Championships in Kobe, Japan in July.

She also missed the 2005 and 2007 Sea Games due to injuries but is determined to end her career on high as this edition of the Sea Games could be her swan song.

Track and field start on Saturday.

Read more: NST

No comments:

Post a Comment