One for Nie Nie, two for Lee Yong, three for Amazing Grace

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Grace in action at Perak Stadium yesterday (Photo by Ng Joon Si). Right photo: Lee Yong emerges with a personal best time in the highly competitive 400m hurdles race.

Wong Nie Nie celebrates her win in the women’s javelin.

IPOH: Wong Nie Nie has been eyeing Sukma gold for four years and defending champion in the javelin Fatin Nur Shaheira of Kuala Lumpur for two.

She had a dismal Sarawak Sukma in 2016 when she finished empty-handed.

It was a repeat of her unfruitful debut in the 2014 Perlis Sukma.

Yesterday, however, the 20-year-old lass exacted sweet revenge in her last fling at Sukma glory.

She was a model of consistency. Her javelin landed over 39m in all six attempts, three of which surpassed 40m.

Her best distance of 41.22m came in her last throw, edging out Johor’s Siti Aisyah Nora Rahis who recorded 41.11m.

Fatin had to be contented with the bronze with 39.57m.

“I am very happy to have won the gold in my final and third Sukma.

“This has made up for the disappointment of finishing fourth twice in Sukma Perlis and Sukma Sarawak,” Nie Nie said.

“I was quite confident of winning today because I had achieved a personal best 45.39m before competing in this Sukma. However, I didn’t expect today’s result to be not so perfect as it was quite close,” added the former student of SMK Tung Hua, Bintangor.

For 400m hurdler Quek Lee Yong, a different battle was lined up at Perak Stadium yesterday. The SMK Tabuan Jaya alumnus was out to retain the Sukma title he won quite comfortably in Kuching two years ago.

It was also the last Sukma for Lee Yong who will be one year over the age limit of 21 by the next Sukma.

The 2015 Asean schools champion was pushed hard in a highly competitive race yesterday. The first three dipped under 53sec as a jubilant Lee Yong breasted the tape in a personal best time of 52.05s ahead of Perak’s Muhd Naim Abdullah (52.56s) and Terengganu’s Ruslem Zikry Putra Roseli (52.81s).

He is now eyeing a second appearance in the SEA Games in the Philippines next year.

Meanwhile, two-time Sukma women’s hammer throw champion Grace Wong Xiu Mei routinely won for the third time, finishing way ahead of five other opponents.

The SMK Sarikei High student, dubbed ‘Amazing Grace’ by the media, won her first gold in the 2014 Perlis Sukma as a 14-year-old and went on to collect a SEA Games bronze a year later.

Last year, she became the first woman in Southeast Asia to throw the hammer over 60m.

The 18-year-old is still recovering from an ankle injury and confessed that she became more focussed in training only in the past two months.

Nevertheless, she managed a best of 56.51m yesterday to easily beat out Nurul Hidayah Lukman of Selangor (50.25m) and Fatin Nabihah Ibrahim of Perlis (49.46m).

The soft-spoken 2017 SEA Games champion added that the next SEA or Asian Games are not really on her mind as she wants to focus on her SPM after a hectic overseas competition and training schedule last year.

But anyone who aspire to win the event at the next Sukma should know that Grace is still eligible to compete one last time in the 2020 Sukma.