National women’s shot putter Nani Sahirah Maryata, who smashed her own national record to win a gold medal at the South East Asian (SEA) Games today, has set her sights higher – towards 17m, the Commonwealth Games, and the Asian Games.
Her throw of 16.38 metres, came after less-than-sterling performances this year, including the world university games in Germany and the Asian championship in South Korea where she managed only 14m.
“This is like a gift for myself as I’ve lost a lot in major championships. Only at the Asian athletics championship did I manage 15.06m, still well below her national record of 15.39m set in Perlis last year.
“So I didn’t have high hopes, only wanting to do better. This is the first time I’ve done 16m, so this is a very huge surprise,” she said after the medal presentation. Areerat Intadis of Thailand (16.04 m) and Huyen Thi Kim of Vietnam (15.92 m) finished second and third.
She does feel the need to make her win today to fuel her future sports endeavours, including the Commonwealth Games next yeaer. “My target is to go to the Commonwealth Games and I need to reach 17m. The Asian Games, meanwhile, is a championship where there are many of my rivals, that’s the long-term goal,” she added.
Nani dominated today’s competition after achieving a difficult-to-beat mark of 16.36m on her second throw to confirm the gold. Home favourite Areerat Intadis of Thailand had to settle for silver with 16.04m, while Vietnam’s Huyen Thi Kim took the bronze with 15.92m.
The national athletics team was also cheered when women’s hammer throw champion, Grace Wong Xiu Mei, won the first gold medal this morning, and a bronze from Mohamad Armin Zahryl Abdul Latif who finished third in the 110m hurdles event, matching his personal best time of 13.85s. In the men’s 400m event, Malaysia failed to defend the gold after the reigning champion Umar Osman only managed to finish fifth in the final with a time of 47.13s.
