KUALA LUMPUR – National discus thrower Queenie Ting hopes to become the country’s first woman to win a discus gold medal in the history of Malaysia’s participation in the SEA Games athletics competition.
Queenie however, acknowledged that the feat will not be a walk in the park, since the event has been dominated by Thailand’s Subenrat Insaeng, the defending gold medallist and winner of the event since 2011.
The Thai athlete is also vastly experienced, having competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
At the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games held in 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 25-year-old Queenie, who hails from Sarikei, Sarawak, was just 0.73m behind gold medal winner Subenrat (53.09m), settling for the silver medal.
However, she had the consolation of setting a new national record with a throw of 52.36m.
The Sarawakian, who later smashed her own national record with a throw of 52.77m at the Institutions of Higher Learning Grand Final Athletics Championships in December 2022, has set herself a target of 55m during the SEA Games in Cambodia, which is scheduled from May 5-17 in Phnom Penh.
“I am very eager to win Malaysia's first ever gold medal in the women’s discus event. It won’t be easy with Subenrat still around, but anything can happen on competition day. Therefore, coach Mohamad Ali Hamid and I will continue to work hard in training to achieve that record.
“The target for the SEA Games is to throw 55m and above. That target will later be raised to 58m for the Asian Games in Hangzhou (September 23-October 8), China,” she said.
According to Subenrat’s current performance, the Thailand national record holder, with a distance of 61.97m set during a competition in the Czech Republic back in July 2018, threw the discus 54.78m at the Thailand Open last November.
Queenie, the first women discus thrower in the country to surpass the 50m mark, and who is expected to take part in the IPT Circuit at the end of the week, is expected to undergo a two-week training stint in Australia as part of her preparations for the SEA Games in Cambodia.
If the National Sports Council (NSC) approves her training stint in Australia, she is expected to compete in two competitions there, including the Australian Open, which will be held from March 30 to April 2.
“We are still waiting for approval from NSC to take part in the competition. If there is no approval, we will continue to train at the NSC grounds in Bukit Jalil since there are good facilities there too,” she said.
While Thailand dominated the women’s discus in the SEA Games, Malaysia have ruled the men’s event since 2013 with Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin claiming the gold medal at the recent SEA Games. – Bernama, March 6, 2023
