KUALA LUMPUR: High jumper Lee Hup Wei is under pressure to defend his gold medal in the Laos SEA Games after failing to retain the Asian Track and Field (ATF) championship title in Guangzhou last week.
The 22-year-old Selangor athlete, who bagged the gold medal in the ATF meet in Jordan two years ago with a height of 2.24m, only managed 2.15m for fifth place. He holds the national record holder of 2.27m but failed to clear 2.20m.
“Many people were expecting me to live up to the No. 1 one status in Asia but I let them down. I am really disappointed with my performance. Now the pressure is on me to deliver in the Laos Games,” said Hup Wei, who trains under Cuban Jose Luis Alforo,
Hup Wei will be making his third appearance in the SEA Games. In his debut in Manila in 2005, he finished a disappointing fifth. At the next Games in Korat, he won the gold medal with a height of 2.19m.
He added that the chilly conditions in Laos might work against him and he hoped to leave early for Vientiane to get used to the weather conditions.
“I want to end the year with a gold medal. But I have no knowledge of the strength of other South-East Asian high jumpers as none of them competed in the ATF,” said Hup Wei.
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