EXCELLENT SHOW: The Sarawak athletes posing with Liong (left) at the end of the 21st MOE-WALAAA-SSSC International Championships at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur last Sunday.
KUCHING: Sarawak’s rising star athlete Grace Wong Xiu Mei made more history when she created a new record in the 21st MOE-WALAAA-SSSC International Championships at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here last Sunday.
The 13-year-old student of SMK Tinggi, Sarikei who competed in the Girls U14 category, hurled the shot put to a new distance of 13.95m for the gold medal.
The old record of 13.15m was set by an Australian athlete in 2010.
Grace also took part in the Girls U14 discus where she also won the gold medal with her throw of 36.44m.
At the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Track and Field Championship two months ago, Grace was the gold medallist in Girls Open hammer throw and Girls U15 discus.
Grace was one of the eight Sarawak athletes including four boys who competed in the two-day event dubbed as the “Little Athletics” participated by 240 student athletes from Australia, Singapore and host Malaysia.
The boys and girls competed in two age categories: Under 15 and Under 14.
The two gold medals and record-breaking feat earned Grace the Best Athlete in the Girls U14 category.
Her teammate Queenie Ting who had won the discus gold at the 5th Asean Schools Games in Vietnam last month with a mark of 37.82m, competed in Girls U15 discus and finished first with a distance of 39.74m.
This was, however, not her personal best as she recorded a mark of 40.78m when she bagged the gold medal at the MSSM Track and Field Championship back in May.
Meanwhile, Sarawak’s sprint star Norris Foo won a gold in Girls U15 4x100m relay, a silver in 100m hurdles and a bronze in 100m.
Liew See Yee finished third in the Girls U15 triple jump.
In the boys competition, Ronifred Egoh Mathew was Sarawak’s best performer after he won the gold in the Boys U15 triple jump and bronzes in Boys U15 long jump and 4x100m.
Quek Lee Yong also won a gold in Boys U15 4x100m relay and bronze in Boys U15 100m hurdles but did not run in the Boys U15 4x400m as he was injured.
Eric Tiong won the silver in Boys U14 shot put while Stanlee Mamat won the bronze in Boys U15 javelin.
Malaysia emerged the overall champions in the meet with 35 gold, 24 silver and 33 bronze medals.
Sarawak’s team leader Liong Shuen Keong was happy with the performance of the athletes as all of them had managed at least to win a medal in the championship.
“Grace Wong has done Sarawak and the country proud by breaking the shot put record and winning the Best Girl Athlete award in the U14 category,” he said.
He hoped that the state athletes would continue to do well in future athletic competitions and bring more glory to Sarawak.