KUCHING: Sukma athletes shone on the first day of competition at the 8th Sarawak Junior Athletics Championship at the State Stadium in Petra Jaya yesterday.
PODIUM FINISH: Ambrose (centre) poses with Muhd Amirun (right) and Michael Ansie on the podium.
Sprinter Ambrose Jilom from Miri Division Amateur Athletic Association (MDAAA) faced no problem in dashing to an easy win in the men’s 100m where he clocked 10.8s.
Coming in second place in 10.9s was Muhd Amirun Morsidi of SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg A while Michael Ansie Hilary Jawa also of MDAAA was third in 11.3s.
“I feel very happy to win the 100m today because I have only started training four months ago after my SPM,” said Ambrose when met after receiving his gold medal.
The 18-year-old who is now undertaking a diploma in Mechanical Engineering course at Institute of Riam Technology is targeting to run 10.50s this year which he has the confidence of achieving with consistent training and good mental preparation.
He is presently training under national 100m record holder Watson Nyambek and Mawan Lalen and has a personal best of 10.70s.
Ambrose is flying to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to compete in the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union Grand Prix and then undergo a selection trial for the national 4x100m team for the SEA Games in Indonesia.
His best achievement to date was at the Asian Schools Games in Kuala Lumpur in July last year where he won golds in the Boys 100m and 4x100m relay and a silver in the long jump.
“My next target will be looking to represent the country at the SEA Games and eventually the Olympics,” said Ambrose.
Meanwhile, MDAAA had a field day at the State Stadium where they net nine gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.
Sukma XIII hepathlon gold medallist Kee Siew Lian was on target with two golds from the women’s high jump where she recorded 1.54m and the women’s triple jump in 11m.
Also striking double gold was Ngu Mee Zing of MDAAA who won the women’s discus with a throw of 36.15m and the women’s shot put with a distance of 11.86m.
The rest of the golds came from Leola Anson in the men’s high jump, Laura Huang in the women’s 400m hurdles, Ho Siew Hua in the women’s 5,000m and Chong Tong Liang in the men’s 5,000m.
A total of 280 athletes from 21 teams representing Sibu, Miri, Sarikei and Kuching are taking part the junior championship for U-21 athletes.
Twenty-five events will be competed today starting at 7.30am.