Sarikei athletes throw their weight at Sibu Open

The mighty Sarikei squad with Leong (back row, left) strike a pose at the end of the 2022 Sibu Open.

SIBU (Oct 11): Sarikei Selected did not lift the overall title at last weekend’s Sibu Open Track and Field Championships. But their athletes lived up to the reputation in throwing events sustained over the years by predecessors such as Jackie Wong, Grace Wong and Queenie Ting. The trio now hold national records in the hammer and discus.

The current squad collected a tally of seven gold, five silver and three bronze medals and finished third in the categories of men’s open, women’s open, girl’s Under-14 and overall. Bukit Jalil Sports School emerged as overall champion (10-5-9) ahead of  SMK Tabuan Jaya Kuching (9-5-4).

“It was hard to beat the athletes from Bukit Jalil as they comprised mostly of national athletes. But then, we are happy to clinch the third best title,” said Sarikei team manager Leong Shuen Keong.

The team did have one national athlete in action. Shot putter Jonah Chang Rigan, who was among the three from Malaysia who qualified to take part in the 2022 World Athletics Under-20 Championships held in Colombia. The 19-year-old proceeded won two gold medals en route to rewriting new records in the shot put (16.04m) and discus (44.67m).

In the absence of Grace Wong it was Ailenna Thipong Laga who stepped up to win the hammer with a distance of 45.07m. Clarence Syree Jeffrey also made up for the missing Queenie Ting by throwing 30.96m to win the discus. The other two gold medals were won by Sherry Melinie Jakup (9.02m in the girl’s U-14 shot put) and Marieanedora Wong Wei Wei (1.44m in the girl’s U-14 high jump).

Sarikei Selected comprised athletes from the six schools of SK Bukit Nibong, SK Ulu Entabai, SJK Kwang Chien, SMK St Anthony, SMK Bandar Sarikei and SMK Tinggi Sarikei.

Leong, who is also the State Sports Council coach for throws, also expressed his gratitude to coaches Afdal Shyarmeezan Sapawi, James Wong Huang Chiew and Wong Huang Sing for their “tremendous efforts” to train and nurture the athletes.

A total of 808 athletes representing 45 teams took part in the two-day meet held at the new Azam Hashim Community Sports Centre in Sibu Jaya. Four teams were from Peninsular Malaysia (Kawan Athletics Kuala Lumpur, Malacca Sports School, Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School Johor and Bukit Jalil Sports School), three from Sabah (Alangkas Athletics Club, Team Keningau and SMK Pinawantai Kudat)  and the rest from Sarawak.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3VuP3Ym
via IFTTT