KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — Three times SEA Games gold medallist Lee Hup Wei who returned to competition after a long layoff due to injury, managed to win the high jump gold at the Malaysian Open Athletics Championships here today.
The 29-year-old representing Armed Forces cleared 2.16m, well below his personal best and National record of 2.27m, but his height was good enough for the gold.
The championships held at the University Malaya mini stadium saw Johor’s Norshafiee Mohd Shah take second place with a clearance of 2.13m while K.
Prakash took the bronze with a height of 2.10m.
Hup Wei, winner of the men’s high jump gold in three consecutive SEA Games editions — 2007 in Korat, Thailand, 2009 Vientiane (Laos) and 2011 Palembang (Indonesia) — but did not compete in Myanmar 2013 and Singapore 2015 due to an ankle injury.
“Right now I am free from injury but I need to be cautious always. My performance was not satisfactory today because we are at the end of the season.
We have started conditioning to prepare for next season.
“I’ll try to ‘catch up’ with my personal best performance of 2.27m next year and do my best in the SEA Games. Age is catching up with me though, so, I need to focus on guiding young talents in the field,” he said.
Hup Wei who cleared 2.27m at the China Open in 2008 had managed 2.22m at the Philippines Open in April.
Meanwhile, National 400m runner Nurul Faizah Asma Mazlan, also from the Armed Forces, set a new personal best time of 54.73s to win the women’s 400m.
“My previous best time was 55.18s which I had set in the Singapore Open early this year. The time is good for a third or fourth place in the SEA Games.
I have been improving my time under coach M. Balamurugan and we will work hard to win a medal in the SEA Games next year,” she said. — Bernama
