ATF Championship In India Final Warm-Up Ahead of SEA Games

By Mazani Chan Yat Sin KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 (Bernama) -- The 22nd Asian Track and Field (ATF) championship in India from July 6-9 will be the final platform for the Malaysian squad to improve their performance ahead of the SEA Games to be held here, this August. National athletics head coach Zainal Abas said the coaching line-up decided to send athletes with the potential to win medals at the SEA Games to the tournament being held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. "We have not placed high hopes of winning medals at the tournament because we are aware that the competition is quite difficult, especially from countries such as Japan, China and Kazakhstan, but I hope they use this opportunity to compete with Asia's best athletes," he told Bernama recently. Meanwhile, Zainal said he was satisfied with the performance of national athletes at the Thailand Track and Field Open held from June 10-15. He explained the success of women's hammer thrower, Grace Wong Xiu Mei and sprint king Khairul Hafiz Jantan in picking up gold medals in the hammer throw and 100m sprint events respectively, proved the national squad was ready to achieve positive results in the SEA Games. The national squad also won gold medals in the women's 4x100m event, and the men’s shot putt event through Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli. "Praise should be given to paralympic athlete Muhammad Ziyad, who made a throw further than 17m, as that's a very good achievement, and the 4x100m women’s team also showed their desire to win," said Zainal. Full list of athletes at the ATF Championship: Men: Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin, Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap, Jonathan Nyepa, Nixson Kennedy, Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian, Jackie Wong Siew Cheer, Lee Hup Wei, Muhammad Azam Masri, Adi Alifuddin Hussin, G.Aravinn Thevar. Women: Grace Wong Xiu Mei, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, Nor Shahidatun Nadia Mohammad Zuki, Yap Sean Yee, S. Komalam Shally, Siti Fatimah Mohamad, Nurul Faiza Asma Mazlan, V. Shereen Samson. -- BERNAMA