KUALA LUMPUR – As expected, national women’s hammer thrower Grace Wong gave her home state another gold medal at the 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma) held at Bukit Jalil National Stadium here, today.
She now has a personal collection of four gold medals, following her wins in the event in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
The Sarawak-born athlete trounced her opponents with a record throw of 59.01m.
Nurul Hidayah Lukman of Selangor finished in second place with 51.12m, while Ailenna Thipong Laga of Sarawak (44.91m) came in third.
Speaking to the media after the event, Grace said she was not entirely satisfied with her record as she had aimed to break her personal best.
“I could have probably had the chance to beat my personal best record (62.48m) if not for the rain.
“I will make another attempt (to break the personal best) at any upcoming tournament next year,” she said.
Grace smashed the national record with a 62.48m throw at the Malaysia Open Athletics Grand Prix championships at the National Sports Council Mini Stadium in Bukit Jalil in April last year.
She erased her own record of 60.99m created in Mokpo, South Korea, in 2017.
Grace had also represented Malaysia four times at the SEA Games, where she brought home a bronze medal in the 2015 Singapore edition, gold in 2017 in Malaysia, silver in 2019 in the Philippines, and another gold in 2021 in Hanoi.
In other events, Terengganu’s Ruslem Zikry Putra Roseli and Sarawak’s Mandy Goh Li won the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles gold medals, clocking 52.21s and 1m 1.49s respectively.
Ruslem also claimed his second gold medal for the day by helping the Terengganu men’s 4x100m relay team to victory with a time of 40.59s.
Meanwhile, Sabah’s quartet of Chelsea Cassiopea Evali Bopulas, Nur Aishah Rofina Aling, Feova Lim Yi Fei, and Patronella Lisong clinched gold in 46.84 seconds in the women’s 4x100m relay.
In the pole vault event, Johor’s Muhammad Naufal Shahrul Afzam raised the bar when he secured gold with a winning leap of 5m. – The Vibes, September 17, 2022
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