Penang schoolboy Sriven Tan took home the men’s 10km race walk gold medal at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
The son of former international athletes Tan Chee Leong and D. Kavitha, Sriven clocked 48 minutes 15.46 seconds to stay top against a field of 10 other athletes.
Fakhrul Razi Jailani of Malacca clocked 48:21.08 for the silver while Sivanesh Mohan Murali of Negeri Sembilan, who finished second in the Malaysian Open, took bronze in a time of 50:42.84s.
For the record, Chee Leong won the boys’ 5,000m three times in the ASEAN School Championships in Jakarta (1993), Bangkok (1994) and Jakarta (1995). He also won bronze in the 10,000m walk in three Malaysia Games – 1994 in Perak, 1996 in Pahang and 1998 in Selangor, and a silver in the 20,000m in 1998. Kavitha represented Penang in the 1993 International Junior Championship race walk.
National high jumper Andre Anura @ Anuar of Sabah cleared a distance of 7.40m to snatch the gold medal from his strongest challengers Muhammad Shahrizal Nashruddin from Terengganu and Sabahan teammate Muhammad Sunik Muslimin.
Shahrizal best was 7.25m for silver and Sunik did 7.24m for bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Perak and national women’s high jumper Ngu Jia Xin cleared a height of 1.70 metres for the gold in the high jump event. Tuan Juliana Tuan Hassan from Terengganu picked the silver (1.675m) and Penang’s Melisa Choong En Xuan cleared 1.60m for bronze medal.
“I was not expecting anything lower than a gold medal,” said Jia Xin. “This is my last Malaysia Games, and I am happy to make an exit with a gold medal. My personal best was 1.79m at the 2019 Perak Open but I did not do well at the 2022 Hanoi Sea Games,” she added. “I cleared 1.65m to finish fifth. So, this gold medal gives me the opportunity to look into my performance and get back on track.”
