KUCHING, Dec 14 — National women’s hammer throw gold medalist Grace Wong Xiu Mei will receive incentives in recognition of her outstanding achievement at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand, said Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

According to him, both the federal and Sarawak governments would provide incentives to honour Grace’s gold medal triumph, while he also said that financial assistance had also been extended to athletes even before their departure for the Games.

“Definitely and I had already informed this earlier as the federal government will give incentives and the state government will also give incentives. Before they left, we also gave some incentives as pocket money,” he told reporters when met at the Konsert Fenomena Samurai concert held at Stadium Perpaduan here on Saturday night.

Abdul Karim also praised Grace’s exceptional performance at the Games, noting that she had delivered on expectations after being advised to raise her performance level during the competition.

“During the SEA Games, we had informed Grace to pick up her performance, and she has performed very well,” he said.

He described her gold medal victory as a remarkable achievement, highlighting that Grace broke the national record four times on her way to clinching the top prize.

“To win the gold medal this time, she broke the national record four times. That is a truly great achievement,” he said, adding that he hoped other Malaysian athletes would be inspired to emulate Grace’s success.

The Sarawakian athlete produced a stellar display at the Suphachalasai Stadium in Thailand, opening with a throw of 63.34 metres to erase her own Games record of 61.87m set in the 2023 Cambodia edition, before bettering both the Games and national records with throws of 63.83m, 65.09m and a winning mark of 65.41m.

She later recorded distances of 64.01m and 64.42m, capping an extraordinary series that saw her set four Games records and three national records in less than an hour, while delivering Malaysia’s first athletics gold medal at the Games.

Thailand settled for silver and bronze through Koomphon Mingkamon (60.74m) and Kaewasuksri Sawitree (56.27m).

The Thailand triumph marked Grace’s fourth SEA Games hammer throw gold, following her previous victories at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur, 2021 Vietnam and 2023 Cambodia editions. — The Borneo Post