Monday August 17, 2009

PETALING JAYA: Pole vaulter Roslinda Samsu failed to surpass her personal best of 4.40m at the world cham¬pion¬¬ships in Berlin on Satur¬day.
Grouped together with world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia in the qualifying rounds, Roslinda only managed to clear 4.25m, placing her 14th in the 16-competitor field.
Roslinda was the sole Malaysian athlete in the championships, gaining qualification recently under Category B after clearing 4.35m at the Mini Olympic Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Roslinda holds the national record of 4.40m, which she set in Barcelona in 2007.

Monday August 3, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: The athletics meet of the Mini Olympic Games ended on a high with pole vaulter Roslinda Samsu qualifying for the World Championships yesterday.

Roslinda cleared 4.35m to meet the Category B qualifying mark of the world meet in her second attempt. The world meet will be held in Berlin from Aug 15-23.

Good enough: Roslinda Samsu posing with her winning height of 4.35m which earned her a trip to the World Athletics Championship in Berlin.

Roslinda’s feat, however, is bad news for men’s 110m hurdler Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian and women’s 400m hurdler Noraseela Khalid.

Had Roslinda failed to qualify, the two hurdlers would have been given wild card entries to the world meet.
“I am very happy to have qualified for the world meet on merit today (yesterday), especially since (today) is the last day for the submission of names for the meet,” said Roslinda.

“I am also happy because this is my season’s best so far after five championships.”
The Beijing Olympian, who set a personal best of 4.40m at a meeting in Barcelona in 2007, said she would give her best in Berlin despite her lack of competitive exposure this year.

“It will be my second World Championships after Osaka in 2007 and it will no doubt be tough. I will do my best,” said Roslinda.Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) deputy president Karim Ibra¬him said Rayzam and Noraseela would be called back from their training-cum-competition stints in Germany and Belgium since they won’t be taking part in the world meet.

“I am glad Roslinda qualified today. She will go to Berlin with her coach Mohd Man Shahar on Tuesday,” he said.

August 02, 2009 22:07 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) — National women’s pole vault record holder Roslinda Samsu became the country’s only athlete to win a ticket to the World Championships in Berlin after clearing 4.35m in the athletics competition of the Mini Olympics at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil Sunday.

Roslinda who has a personal best of 4.40m which is also the national record, cleared the 4.35m height on her second attempt to equal the IAAF’s qualifying mark for Category B en route to winning the gold.

“I am delighted with the effort because tomorrow is the closing date to qualify for the World Championships,” she told reporters here today.

Roslinda added that having competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics would give her an added impetus to perform well in Berlin.

“I know that the level of competition in Berlin will be top class but I will try to do my best,” said Roslinda whose overseas stints had to be cancelled due to the global influenza A (H1N1) outbreak.

Meanwhile, ‘Supermum’ Yuan Yufang put her younger opponents to shame by clinching the 10,000m Walk gold with a time of 1 hour 51 minutes 25.27 seconds while youngsters Song Wee Hua and Norlian Md Rusni came in second and third with 1′54:33.92s and 1′59:28.07s respectively.

In the women’s track and field event, national back up athlete K. Ganthimanthi added the 1,500m gold to her 800m gold yesterday, after clocking 4:36.00s.

Ganthimathi, 22, had won the 800m in 2:9.74s.

Athletic competitions in the Mini Olympics, held over three days, starting July 31, witnessed only one national record through middle distance runner Melinda Kaur in women’s 3,000m steeplechase.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 (Bernama) — Following are the results of the athletics events of the Mini Olympics held at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium today:

20,000m Walk (Men):

Gold: B.Thirukumaran 1 hr 35 min 37.86 sec Silver: Lo Choon Sieng 1′38:30.02s Bronze: R. Jayaseelan 1′43:05.12s

Shot Put (Men):

Gold: Adi Alifuddin 16.41m

Silver: Mohd Hafiz Hashim 14.15m

Bronze: Shahrin Selamat 13.54m

Javelin (Women):

Gold: Syuraini Sekembar 40.08m

Silver: Nur Fatin Adibah 37.93m

Bronze: Nazirah Che Amat 36.19m

Long Jump (Men):

Gold: Jen Chan Guo 7.09m

Silver: Mohd Syahrul Amri 6.87m

Bronze: Camillus Davis 6.80m

400m Hurdles (Men):

Gold: Abd Azlan Samsuddin

53.37sec

Silver: Eldusham Irion

54.15s

Bronze: Mohd Firdaus Mohd Mustafa

54.40s

– MORE

SPORTS-MINI OLYMPICS (RESULTS) 2 (LAST) KUALA LUMPUR

400m Hurdles (Women):

Gold: Norisah Kassim

66.59sec

Silver: Emy Ahkim

68.52s

Bronze: Nurul Shafiqa Dawood

69.81s

High Jump (Men):

Gold:

Lee Hup Wei

2.15m

Silver: Ahmad Najwan Aqra

2.05m Bronze: Navin Raj 2.00m

Long Jump (Women):

Gold:

Siti Zubaidah Abadi

5.62m

Silver: Ng Khai Lee

5.49m

Bronze: Nurul Fatimatul Awang

5.43m

3,000m Steeplechase (Men):

Gold: J. Karthik

9 min 35.24 sec

Silver: Prabudass 9:40.97s

Bronze: Ahmad Lutfi Hamizan 9:47.25s

3,000m Steeplechase (Women):

Gold: Melinda Kaur 11 min 04.14 sec

Silver: Angela Kundang 13:18.51s

Bronze: Fariza Abd Hamid 13:21.92s

800m (Women):

Gold: K.Ganthimathi

2 min 09.74 sec

Silver: Normelia Musa

2:25.24s

Bronze: Nik Norzulaili Nik Wil 2:25.81s

800m (Men):

Gold:

S.Mathialagan 1 min 50.65 sec

Silver: M.Vadivellan 1:51.38s

Bronze: D.Jayakumar 1:52.47s

Decathlon (Men):

Gold: Muhd Faizal Mustafa

5978 pts

Silver: Al Muktal Baharum 4864 pts

Bronze: Shamsudin Md Dali 4770 pts

100m (Women):

Gold:

Norjannah Hafiszah

11.90sec

Silver: Nurul Sarah Abd Kadir

12.09s

Bronze: Yee Ye Ling

12.12s

100m (Men):

Gold: Syed Aliff Syed Noh

10.61 sec

Silver: Mohd Azhar Ismail 10.80s

Bronze: S.Kannan 10.83s

http://www.miniolympic2009.com.my/rs2009/bm/at/schedule.aspx

– BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 (Bernama) — Melinda Kaur probably ran the race of her life to make the cut for the Laos SEA Games in the 3,000 steeplechase event but all that could be in vain.

Melinda who clocked 11 minutes 04.14 seconds to win the women’s 3,000m steeplechase and qualify for the SEA Games, would now have to keep her fingers crossed as Laos, host of the SEA Games in December, are said to have omitted the event from the athletics programme.

According to Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) deputy president Karim Ibrahim, he had already informed the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) of the predicament, last week.

“I had raised the issue last week and OCM will discuss the matter with the organiser (Laos),” he told reporters here Saturday.

Karim said such events must be held at SEA Games level because it was a permanent event at all major sporting events, including the Asian, Commonwealth and Olympics.

Melinda who has since emerged as Malaysia’s hope in the event after a long absence of middle distance runners in the event, feels she would give her best shot if the event was included in Laos.

“I am happy to have qualified for the SEA Games and will work hard to improve my time although the inclusion of the event is uncertain,” said Melinda who finished the race almost a lap ahead of the rest.

Meanwhile, the athletics competitions of the Mini Olympics held at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, saw a keen battle for the gold in the men’s high jump event between national record holder and SEA Games defending gold medallist, Lee Hup Wei and Ahmad Najwan Aqra.

Hup Wei emerged triumphant after clearing 2.15m while Ahmad Najwan had to settle for the silver with a height of 2.05m but Hup Wei’s winning height failed to earn him a ticket to the World Championships in Berlin, Germany as the qualifying height was 2.28m.

The men’s 100m sprint was won by Syed Aliff Syed Noh with a time of 10.61s while the women’s event was won by Norjannah Hafiszah in 11.90s.

Athletics events will continue tomorrow.

– BERNAMA