Thursday November 19, 2009KUALA LUMPUR: Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian and two other fellow 110m hurdlers have been given another chance to qualify for the Laos SEA Games in the Singapore Open next week.
Rayzam, who won the gold medal in the 2007 Korat Games in a record time of 13.91, had failed to meet the qualifying mark of 13.95 at the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil last month. Mohd Robani Hassan and Mohd Faiz Mohamed also did not make the grade.

Rayzam won the first semi-finals in 14.21 but could not race in the final because of a hamstring injury.

Robani, the 2005 Manila Games gold medallist, also qualified for the final but did not run because of a calf injury. Faiz, the bronze medallist in Korat, won the final in 14.20.

The 22-year-old Rayzam said that he thought that his chances of competing in the Laos Games were all over after the failure to meet the qualifying mark in the Malaysian Open, which was the last meet for athletes to earn places in the team for the biennial Games.

“Thanks to the MAAU (Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union) for giving me and my team-mates, Robani and Faiz, another lifeline to qualify for the SEA Games. I hope that I will not blow the chance,” said Rayzam, who skipped the Asian Track and Field (ATF) championships in Guangzhou last week to concentrate on his preparations for the outing in Singapore.

Rayzam, who clocked a season’s best of 13.98, added that he only started training two weeks ago.

Robani competed in the ATF meet and he clocked a season’s best of 14.01 in the semi-finals. He finished fifth in the final in 14.06.

2009/11/19

ROSLINDA Samsu has refuted concerns that her form is on the slide after below-par performances in her last two competitions.

The pole vaulter relinquished her title at the Asian Championships last week after failing to clear 3.80m, which followed her no-height posting at the Malaysian Open last month.

Roslinda said she had just recovered from fever when she competed at the Malaysian Open and adverse weather conditions prevented her from going higher in Guangzhou, China.

“I know there has been a lot said about my performances and some people have even asked if there was a problem with my training.

“I would just like to state that there were external factors involved and it has nothing to do with my performances.

“In Guangzhou, the weather was so bad that my request to the referee to postpone the pole vault was rejected. It was just too dangerous to just too dangerous to compete because the wind was unpredictable.

“That was why I came unstuck at 3.80m, which was actually a relief, although it was just my bad luck that rain started to let up when the bar moved to 4.00m,” said Roslinda yesterday.

Roslinda is now looking forward to competing at the Laos Sea Games where she is the odds-on favourite in her event.

But first she will warm-up at the Singapore Open in two weeks time to get into the rhythm.

“My preparation has been going fine and I will jump at the Singapore Open before going to the Sea Games. God willing, I’ll bring the gold medal home from Laos,” said Roslinda, one of only six Malaysian athletes capable of winning gold in Vientiane.

Sunday November 15,

2009KUALA LUMPUR: Noraseela Khalid, still on a high after winning a silver in the women’s 400m hurdles at the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in Guangzhou on

Friday, has set sights on a SEA Games gold medal next.
And the 30-year-old is glad to have proven that age does not matter as she clocked 57.15 in China to take the silver medal - her second in the ATF following a similar feat in Manila in 2005.

Noraseela, who has also bagged the bronze medal in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, has missed the last two SEA Games because of injuries.

Prior to that, she won the gold medal in Brunei (1999) and Vietnam (2003) and a silver in Kuala Lumpur (2001).
But for the Laos SEA Games next month, the Rawang hurdler has set herself a lofty target.

“My six-month training stint in South Africa earlier this year has certainly paid off. I definitely want to sign off the year with a gold in Laos,” said Noraseela.

Had it not been for Noraseela, Malaysia would have ended their ATF campaign in Guangzhou empty-handed.
Even Lee Hup Wei and Roslinda Samsu - defending champions in the men’s high jump and women’s pole vault respectively - failed to deliver.

The 22-year-old Hup Wei, who holds the national record of 2.27m, could only clear 2.15m to finish fifth while 27-year-old Roslinda, who has the personal best of 4.40m, managed 3.60m to finish fifth as well.

Meanwhile in the men’s 4×400m, the quartet of Mohd Idris Zakaria, P. Yuvaaraj, Mohd Zafril Mohd Zuslaini and Mohd Saiful Zainal Abidin clocked 3:11.37 to finish seventh.
Overall, it has been a disappointing performance by the 22athletes - comprising 12 men and 10 women - as none managed to even surpass their personal bests.

Saturday November 14, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran Noraseela Khalid saved Malaysia the blushes when she bagged a silver in the women’s 400m hurdles in the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in Guangzhou, China, yesterday.It was the country’s only medal after four days of competition. In Amman, Jordan, two years ago, Malaysian won two gold medals.

The 30-year-old, who skipped the last ATF meet because of injury, clocked 57.15 to finish behind Japan’s Satomi Kubokura (56.62). Natalya Asanova (59.37) of Uzbekistan took bronze.

A winner: Noraseela did the country proud at the ATF Championships when she won a silver medal in the 400m hurdles

However, Noraseela, who also won a silver in the ATF in Incheon, South Korea in 2005, was more than a second slower than her national record of 56.02.
Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) deputy president Karim Ibrahim said in a telephone interview yesterday that Noraseela’s six-month training stint in South Africa early this year had paid off.

“Although she is 30, she is still one of the top 400m hurdlers in Asia,” said Karim.
“We are happy that she bagged the silver medal to overcome Roslinda (Samsu) and Lee’s (Hup Wei) failures to defend their gold medals in the women’s pole vault and men’s high jump events.

“Noraseela will definitely be the favourite for the gold medal in the Laos SEA Games next month.”
Roslinda, who won the gold medal in Jordan with a height of 4.20m, could only clear 3.60m on Thursday to finish fifth out of eight vaulters.

Asian champion Hup Wei was also a huge letdown at the ATF yesterday, finishing a disappointing fifth with a poor height of 2.15m.

Hup Wei, trained by Cuban Jose Luis Alforo, failed to clear 2.20m in all three attempts.

His effort was way off the 2.24m he did in Jordan and his national record of 2.27m, which he set in the China Open last year to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Today is the last day of the meet and only the men’s 4×400m team of Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin, Mohd Zafril Mohd Zuslaini, P. Yuvaaraj and Mohd Imran Hadi will be in action.

The Athens Olympic champion Liu Xiang won the men’s 110m hurdles comfortably with 13.50 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships, igniting the passion of home crowd.

The Athens Olympic champion Liu Xiang won the men’s 110m hurdles comfortably with 13.50 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships, igniting the passion of home crowd.

“My aim is to be an Olympic champion, and I have thought about it for over five years,” he added.

Lin Xiangqian of China fought back from behind to take the silver in 8:34.13. Abubaker Ali Kamal of Qatar, bronze medallist of 800m and 1,500m at last Asian championships, finished third in 8:34.73.

Li, 22, chose the opening height of 3.80m and then cleared the following three heights on her first attempt. But She failed on the height of 4.45m, so the 4.30m finally turned out to be her winning jump.

“I am not quite satisfied with today’s performance as I failed in challenging the height of 4.45m,” said Li.

Samsu crossed an opening height of 3.60m on her second attempt but failed to overtake the next height of 3.80m, a far cry from her personal best of 4.40m and seasonal best 4.35m, and ranked only fifth in the final.

China’s Wu Sha placed second with 4.15m and South Korea’s Choi Yun-Hee the third with 4.00m.

The women’s javelin final should have put on a very close tussle among the leading three athletes in Asia, China’s Liu Chunhua, Li Lingwei and Japan’s Yuki Ebihara, but Ebihara, bronze medalist at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, ranked only fourth in the final, as she posted a below-par mark of 47.03m, more than 13 meters shorter than her personal and season best of 60.84m.

China’s Liu Chunhua bagged gold with an overwhelming 57.93m. Li placed second with 55.13m and South Korea’s Kim Kyong-Ae got a bronze with 52.78m.

Japanese Tatsumi Yoshika claimed the third gold medal for her country as she won the women’s 3,000 meters steeplechase final.

Tatsumi, the pre-event favorite, clocked 10 minutes and 5.94 seconds to win the race amid heavy rain, beating Sudha Singh of Indonesia by 4.83 seconds. The bronze also went to Indonesia’s Kiran Tiwari in 10:34.55.

“I was in good form,” said the winner. “The weather was not a problem to me. I am happy to be the gold medalist.”

“My aim is to win a gold in the Asian Games next year,” she added.

By far, China, Japan and Bahrain ranked top three on the medal stable. China has bagged 30 medals, while Japan garnered 10 and Bahrain three.