KUCHING: Promising junior shot putter Grace Wong Xiu Mei has become the youngest Sarawak Sukma XV athlete after making the cut during the recent state selection trial held at Tun Ahmad Zaidi Stadium in Sibu.
The talented 12-year-old lass from Sarikei heaved a heavier 4kg iron ball to a distance of 11.18m to exceed the qualifying mark for the Malaysia Games.
Sarawak State Sports Council’s (MSNS) Sarikei Centre of Excellence for Athletics (Throw Events) coach, Thomas Ling Neng Thung expressed enthusiasm for Grace to give the other much older opponents a good run for their money in Kuantan, Pahang next month.
“I am hoping for her to spring an upset in the coming Sukma and I believe she will not let us down,” Thomas said of the hard working athlete who has consistently been throwing a distance of11metre in her daily training at Sarikei Stadium.
She is in contention for a possible medal to bring back home as long as she can push herself to do a 11.5metre throw during the upcoming Sukma.
To his knowledge, Grace’s teammate Casier Renee Lee who may also be competing in this event has a personal best of 12metre while Kelantan’s Bibi Ishak has thrown a distance of 11.27 metre at the recent Selangor Open and Chin Poh Kuan from Pahang has also recorded 11metre.
In fact, Grace enjoys the advantage of being the underdog in the shott putt event and will not be feeling much pressure unlike her older opponents who will have to soak it in.
Ling expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the Sarawak Amateur Athletic Association (SAAA) and MSNS for giving Grace a chance to compete in Sukma despite being a green horn in the prestigious event.
“I started training her with heavier ball at the end of last year and as expected, she coped well with it,” Ling said of Grace who despite her young age, had also built up her physique.
According to him, Grace had put in a lot of effort and trains for at least two hours daily including training during night in view of Sukma’s throwing events are going to be held after daylight.
Grace who took put shot putt at the tender age of nine years old has won gold in the Girls’ under 12 event of Sarikei Division Inter-Secondary and Primary Schools Track and Field Championship since 2009.
The SJK Hua Nam student is actually the niece of five-time SEA Games hammer throw champion Wong Tee Kui and has also created history by becoming the first primary school pupil to break the 10 metre mark in Sarikei.
Grace entered her name in the Sarawak Schools Sports Council (MSSS) track and field championship records book after breaking the Girls under 12 shot putt and in 2010 she competed in the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM) meet in Johor and created a new record in Girls’ under 12 shot putt with a 10.73 metre throw. She bettered the record in the following year’s meet a throw of 11.96 metre in Ipoh, Perak.
At the MSSM meet in Kangar, Perlis this year, she once again improved her own record on in the Girls’ under 12 event with a throw of 13.61 metre.