KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 ― National hammer throwing ace and record holder Jackie Wong is not expected to join the national athletics squad to resume training in July.
Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk SM Muthu said the athlete, who was warded at the Sibu Hospital for two months after testing positive for Covid-19, will instead continue training alone, as he needed time to recover and regain his fitness levels.
“Jackie Wong, for now, will not be called in yet, he needs to recover as he had been in the hospital for over 70 days. So we have given him time off for now, and later we will discuss further,” he told reporters here today.
Jackie, 28, was admitted to the hospital on March 16 after testing positive for Covid-19, and he was believed to have caught the infection from his father.
Meanwhile, Muthu said MAF would be meeting with the National Sports Council and the Ministry of Youth and Sports to discuss certain relaxations on the standard operating procedure for athletes’ training, as outlined by World Athletics.
“Among the relaxed regulations under the SOP is that athletes do not need to wear facemasks, which can interfere with their breathing during training,” he explained. ― Bernama
