Ganesh storms to a double

26/04/1998

SARAWAK'S Chai Song Lip, Penang walker Teoh Boon Lim and Pahang sprinter R. Ghaneswaran shone on the final day of the athletics competition when they rewrote three of the five meet records at the Shah Alam Stadium yesterday.
And they were all not happy with their performances.
Chai, who won the long jump with a record-breaking feat on the opening
day, rewrote his triple jump mark of 14.99m, recorded at the last Games,
to 15.56m to clinch the gold.
However, the 21-year-old Universiti Pertanian Malaysia student was
disappointed as it was below his personal best jump of 15.65m, which he
registered during the national junior Grand Prix last year.
Chai, from Kuching, has been training under Russian coach Sergei
Siderenko in the last four years. His next target is to take a crack at
the 16-metre mark.
Asked if he would be able to break the national mark of 16.29m held by
Zaki Sadri, Chai, who also won two gold medals at the last Games in
Kuantan, said he prefers to take it one step at a time.
Malacca's Malik Tobias took the silver with a leap of 15.14m, which also
bettered the meet record. Ang Chun Lai recorded 14.87 for the bronze.
Teoh, after winning the 20km gold on the opening day, was in superb form to bag the 10,000m in a record 44:05.99. His personal best, which is also the national record, is 42:36.0.
Silver medallist Shahrul Haizy of Kuala Lumpur also bettered the meet
mark when he clocked 45:07.48. Tan Chee Leong of Penang was third in
45:39.22.
Ghaneswaran's personal best for the 200m is 21.25s and he only managed to clock 21.38 yesterday, which was good enough for the gold and to break his meet record of 21.57.
At least five metres behind was Hamberi Mahat in 21.74 while the bronze
went to Nazamizan Muhammad of Terengganu in 21.78.
"I had expected to win the gold today because this is my favourite
event. Unlike the 100m, I didn't see the others pose any serious
challenge.
"The 100m gold is a bonus as this is my last Malaysia Games," said the
computer engineering student from Kuantan.
The other two meet records were in the javelin and women's 400m hurdles.
In the javelin, Sarawak's Kho Mei Kuan charted 61.84m to improve on
Justine James' 61.50m recorded in the 1990 Games.
Selangor's Norsheela Khalid won the 400m hurdles in 61.54s to erase the
previous mark of 62.41 held by Sarawak's Chong Fui Mei, who finished
second this time in 63.16. Norkiah Madel, also from Sarawak, was third in 65.51.
It was a memorable outing for Perak's Carol Lucia Alfred, who won two
more gold medals yesterday to bring her personal tally to four.
Yesterday, she won the women's 200m gold and anchored the 4x400m to
victory. She had earlier won the 400m and 4x100m gold medals.
(END)