WATCH OUT: Grace Wong about to heave the shot for the record.
SIBU: Eight records, including two national records, were rewritten at the Sarikei Division MSS Track & Field Athletic Championship which entered its second day in Sarikei yesterday.
The ferocious national shot putter Grace Wong Xiu Mei was in her element when she heaved the Girls’ Under 14 shot putt to a new distance of 11.39m, enroute to beating the national record set by Siti Nurul Ain of Negri Sembilan in 2003.
Grace is one of the promising stars of Sarikei’s stable of throwing athletes who continued to excel in each tournament. Her record throw was only achieved in her fifth try which also caught her coach by surprise.
Grace, seemingly destined to become the national No.1 shot putter in due course, took part in the 7th Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Areas (BIMP-EAGA) Friendship Games at in the SOCSARGEN Region in the Philippines at the end of last year and returned with a flourish. She beat her more senior challengers from BIMP-EAGA to emerge champion with a throw of 10.78m.
In the recent Junior Meet held in Kuching, Grace again displayed her credentials when she edged all her senior challengers to lift the title with another marvelous throw of 11.68m.
She also hurled the hammer in the Under 19 category to a record distance of 41.74 to bag the title.
“She is going strong and at her current rate, there is nothing to derail her plan. She can go on winning titles as currently, there is yet any athlete in her category who can match her skills,” her coach Ling Neng Tung said when contacted. Grace is down to compete in the Hammer event tomorrow (today) and the title looked like hers for the taking.
16-year-old Queenie Ting Kung Ni of SMK Tinggi also gave a stellar performance in the Girls’ Under 18 discuss when she broke the national record with a new distance of 39.70m.
The old mark of 38.75m was established by Phang Hua Mei in 2006.
Ling put strong faith in Queenie, saying she was also destined to go the distance with her outstanding performance.
Other records in the two-day championship were achieved by SMK Julau’s Kesian Sekapi in Boys U 15 triple jump (12.32m), SMK Meradong’s Tilloston Welfered in Boy’s Under 18 10,000m Walk (53:50”), SMK Tong Hua’s Eric Tiong Ing Kuen in Boys’ Under 14 shot putt (13.88m),
SMK Julau’s Lydia Epin in Girls Under 15 high jump (1.47m), Sarikei District’s Clarence Wong in Boys Under 12 shot putt (12m) and Julau District’s Mac Ronald Labang in Boys Under 12 high jump (1.42m).