The sprinter from Sarawak clocked a time of 10.66 seconds in the 100m to pip Singapore’s Marc Brian Louis by 0.01s.– Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR (April 18): National athlete Jonathan Nyepa put on an impressive run to emerge as the sprint king as well as helping Malaysia’s 4x100m relay quartet to win the gold medal on the last day of the 82nd Singapore Track and Field Championships on Sunday.
In the 100m, the sprinter from Sarawak clocked a time of 10.66 seconds to pip Singapore’s Marc Brian Louis by 0.01s. Jonathan’s compatriot, Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi, who is the 2019 SEA Games champion, had to settle for a bronze medal with a time of 10.75s.
Jonathan then scored a double when he combined with Muhammad Haiqal, Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi and Muhammad Zulfiqar Ismail to clock 39.66s to clinch gold in the men’s 4x100m relay beating Indonesia and Singapore who shared silver after both teams timed an identical 40.09s.
Meanwhile, M Avinesh Austin won the men’s 800m with a time of one minute 55.14s while Filipino Edwin Jr Giron grabbed the silver (1: 55.27s) and Mohamed Haja Fayiz representing the Swift club took home bronze (1: 59.29s).
In the field events, Malaysia also bagged gold in both men’s and women’s discus through Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin and Queenie Ting Kung Ni.
Muhammad Irfan dominated the men’s event with a meet record of 59.15m to beat silver medalist John Albert Mantua (49.57m) of the Philippines followed by Eric Yee Chun Wai of National University Singapore who finished third (47.67m).
Queenie secured her gold with a throw of 46.27m to beat compatriot Choo Kang Ni (44.11m) who grabbed the silver and Melissa Yee Wai Teng of the Singapore Institute of Technology recorded 33.82m for the bronze medal.
National long jump record holder Andre Anura Anuar produced a jump of 7.60m jump to win the event. Janry Ubas from the Philippines came in second (7.52m) and the bronze was won by Tedd Toh from Wings Athletics Club (6.93 m).
Veteran Norliyana Kamaruddin grabbed silver in the women’s heptathlon event by collecting 4,875 points. Sarah Dequinan from the Philippines took the gold (5,008 points) and her compatriot Josefa Ligmayo won bronze (4,486 points).
A total of 14 athletes from Malaysia joined counterparts from Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore in the two-day championships. — Bernama