SINGAPORE, April 27 — National men’s high jump record holder Nauraj Singh Randhawa broke his own national mark of 2.29m with a new height of 2.30m at the Singapore Open Athletics Championships, here today.

The Johorean who had featured in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics last year, erased his previous record which he set in the same meet last April.

According to Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk Karim Ibrahim, with the height of 2.30m, Nauraj had qualified for the World Athletics Championships scheduled in London at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Stadium from Aug 4-13, for the first time because the qualifying mark was 2.30m.

"I am very happy for him and proud of his achievement because it augers well for the SEA Games,” said Karim when contacted today.

National women’s high jumper Yap Sean Yee had to be satisfied with third spot at the Singapore National Stadium, here today since the national back-up squad athlete and National high jump record holder only managed to clear 1.75m to see compatriot Nurliyana Kamaruddin and Singapore’s Michelle Sng share the top spot after both cleared 1.78m.

Yap had just broken her own national record at the Kuala Lumpur Schools Sports Council meet (MSSKL) in March after registering a jump of 1.81m which erased her previous National record of 1.79m which was set during the Pahang Open in 2015.

In the women’s 200m, sprinter Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli clocked 24.89s to finish third behind compatriot Komalam Shally Selvaretnam and winner Veronica Shanti Pereira from Singapore who set a time of 24.54s.

Meanwhile, in the men’s 200m, Khairul Hafiz Jantan finished in second place behind Thailand’s Jirapong Meenapra who clocked 21.49s while Michael Romanin from Australia won third place after clocking 21.75s. 

The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) had sent 27 athletes, including two national Paralympic athletes — Abdul Latif Romly and Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli — to take part in the Singapore meet.

Muhammad Ziyad who is the Paralympic world record holder in the men’s shot put F20 (intellectual disability) with a throw of 16.84m, only settled for fourth place after throwing a distance of 16.54m in the men’s shot put final event today. — Bernama