NEW CLARK CITY (Philippines), Dec 8 — Andre Anura Anuar broke the national record in men’s long jump yesterday but it was not good enough for gold, leaving Malaysia with just two silver and two bronze medals on the opening day of the 30th SEA Games athletics competition here.
The Sabah-born athlete recorded a massive jump of 8.02 metres to break the 12-year-old national record and clinch the silver at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium.
The old record of 7.88m was set by Josbert Tinus at the Thailand Open in 2007.
“I did not expect to break eight metres because I was just giving my best. I am grateful for breaking the national mark,” he told reporters.
His effort yesterday was also better than his personal best of 7.90m recorded at the Berwang Open athletics championship in Kota Kinabalu on November 2 this year, which failed to be counted as a national record because it was aided by a tailwind of more than 2.0 metres per second.
The gold went to Indonesia’s Sapwaturrahman, who cleared 8.03m to crack the SEA Games record set by the Philippines’ Henry Dagmil in the 2007 edition in Korat, Thailand. Thailand’s Suttisak Singkhon took the bronze with 7.89m.
National hammer throw record holder Jackie Wong Siew Cheer gave Malaysia their second silver when he hurled the iron ball 63.83m while teammate Sadat Marzuki Ajisan finished fourth among seven participants with a throw of 57.35m.
Thailand’s Kittipong Boonmawan won the gold with a throw of 67.56m, which also broke the SEA Games record of 65.90m set by Wong in 2017. Myanmar’s Aung Ye Htet was third with 58.88m.
In men’s pole vault, national record holder Iskandar Alwi could only manage 5m to win the bronze.
Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines cleared 5.45m to win gold and break the SEA Games record of 5.35m which was set by Thailand’s Porranot Purahong in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. Porranot had to settle for silver on 5.20m.
Australian-born Russell Alexander Nasir Taib presented Malaysia with a bronze when he clocked 21.11s in the men’s 200m.
Thailand had a one-two finish when Chayut Khongprasit and Siripol Punpa clocked 20.71s and 20.78s respectively. — Bernama
