KUCHING: Unheralded Aron Ng Yun Ping was Sarawak’s hero on the first day of the 56th MSSM athletics meet at Alor Setar’s Stadium Darulaman, Kedah on Saturday.
The state leads the medal tally after the first day’s action with three gold, three silver and one bronze ahead of Terengganu (3-2-1), Perak (2-2-2), Kedah (2-1-3) and Johor (2-1-2).
Aron, who took the silver in the 800m for Under-15 in 2013, has moved up to the U-18 age-group this year. On Saturday, he triumphed over a quality field to win the 2-lap race in 1:58.06 sec. He beat favourite and defending champion Putra Azrul Shazwan (1:58.43) and last year’s U-15 winner Asif Rahman (1:59.47), both from Selangor. Sarawak’s other two gold medals came from male throwers.
Jackson Wong (57.63m) and Wong Siew Hung (54.78m) repeated their
1-2 finish last year in the Boy’s Open hammer. Kedah’s Lim Chen Chuen was third with 53.27m.
In the Boy’s discus (U-15), Johnny Ling led from his third throw to win with 47.41m ahead of Perak’s Muhd Izul (45.99m) and Labuan’s Jeffry Chan (44.53m).
Aron’s surprise victory made up for Norris Foo’s disappointment in the Girl’s 100m (U-18). But Norris was also facing top class opposition. Perak’s Noor Eewan Syafiqah won in 12.22 sec while Norris did well to finish second in 12.47 to pip defending champion Kang Woan Yi (12.48), also of Perak.
Shot putter Betty Hoong (U-18) threw 11.18m to contribute the third silver and high jumper Josephine Joseph (U-12) the bronze medal. The gold in the two events were collected by Pahang’s Chin Poh Kuan (12.24m) and Terengganu’s Amni Liyana (1.43m).
Meanwhile, Sarawak’s Norkamisiah Wati was leading after three events in the Girl’s Open pentathlon.
Teammate Arianna Nurminda was lying third.
Two new records, both in the Boy’s U-15 category, were created on the first day of competition. Luqmanul Hakim of Pahang clocked 1:59.70 sec to break the old 800m record of 2:00.68 set by Kedah’s Tan Wei Heng. Sabah’s Andre Anura surpassed his own record by 14cm to win the long jump with 6.89m.