PALEMBANG, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysian hurdle queen Noraseela Mohd Khalid kept her promise and won the gold in her pet event, the women's 400m hurdles at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia at the Jakabaring Athletics Stadium here Tuesday.
She recorded a time of 57.41s to snatch the gold. Wassana Winatho of Thailand who recorded 58.97s came in second while Indonesia's Hetari Viera clocked 59.64s for the bronze.
"I was amazed at the pace of my run today. It was very good. I am Happy to contribute a gold medal for athletics," she told the media after the race.
However,despite her joy, Noraseela, 32, who has won four gold medals in the SEA Games, voiced her disappointment with the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU).
According to her, the athletics squad faced numerous problems because of the negative attitudes of some parties in the MAAU.
"There are many problems in athletics and I hope there are parties who can do something, especially the president, so that the national athletes can rise up again," she said.
She said she was disappointed with the attitude of MAAU in taking lightly the participation of the 4x400m men quartet who arrived in Palembang at the last minute to compete on their own expenses.
"In fact, our athletes with potential hoped to come here but were ignored by MAAU," she said.
The 4x400m men quartet yesterday created an upset by taking gold in the event.
Noraseela also said she hoped there were parties who could help her and other athletes with potential as such woman pole vault Roslinda Samsu and high jumper Lee Hup Wei towards qualifying for the Olympics.
She alleged this was because MAAU was not doing anything to help them.
"I only have two more years to run and I hope before I retire I can qualify for the Olympics," she added.
-- BERNAMA
From Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid
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