KUCHING: Sarawak sprinter Jonathan Nyepa is down for three events (100m, 200m and the mixed sprint relay) for the SEA Games to be held in Manila in December. Jonathan will be joined by another athlete Muhd Zulfiqar Ismail in the 100m instead of defending 100m SEA Games champion Khairul Hafiz Jantan. The Melaka-born runner, who is also the national record holder in the 100m, failed to beat the qualifying mark of 10.43s while both Jonathan and Muhd Zulfiqar had qualified with times of 10.36s and 10.43s.
Khairul’s national record in the 100m is 10.18s which he clocked in the Sukma 2016 held in Sarawak while Jonathan’s best time is 10.28s which he achieved at the Korea Open. Another sprinter who failed to make it is women sprinter Zaidatul Hujah Zulkifli who went to the US together with the Sarawak sprinter for an eight-week training stint but came back early due to injury sustained during training.
Jonathan will be joined by another Sarawakian sprinter Nixson Kennedy in the mixed relay together with the other women athletes Nurul Tiza and Asma Mazlan. In the 200m, Jonathan who dipped below 21s to post 20.93s during a meet while training in the US, will be joined by Russel Nasir Taib, who is based in Brisbane in Australia for the 200m. Apart from Jonathan and Nixson, the other two athletes from Sarawak who have been included for the SEA Games are hammer throwers Jackie Wong Siew Cheer and Grace Wong Xiu Mei.
Both beat the qualifying mark in the recent Malaysian closed athletics championships. Both Jackie and Grace are the defending champions in the men’s and women’s hammer throw events with Jackie posting a record distance of 68.22m while Grace whose record stands at 60.99m only managed a 54.10m in the recent competition which is enough to book a ticket to her third SEA Games.
