KUALA LUMPUR: It was her last throw of the discus and Sarawakian Queenie Ting Kung Ni gave it her all.
And hey presto! That was all she needed as she set a new national record of 48.56 metres (m) in the women’s discus event en route to the gold medal at the Malaysia Athletics Grand Prix at the National Sports Council (NSC) Mini Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
It erased the previous mark of 47.91m set by Johor’s Connie Choo Kang Ni at the 2017 SEA Games here.
Connie, meanwhile, came in second today with a distance of 45.53m while Negeri Sembilan’s Yap Jen Tzan took bronze with 44.82m.
However, Queenie, the 2019 Manila SEA Games bronze medallist, had to wait for several hours for her record to be confirmed.
“Today was like a roller-coaster ride for me as I anxiously waited for the official result. This victory is very important for me and my coach. I am happy to have finally broken the national record,” she told reporters after breaking down in tears of joy.
“Thank you to everyone who helped me achieve this record and made my dreams come true… among them being coach Man (national athletics head coach Mohd Mansahar Abdul Jalil),” she added.
Queenie, whose previous personal best of 46.51m was set at the Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) meet in 2019, could only manage 45.28m when she won her first medal at the 2019 SEA Games.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Ali Hamid, who has been guiding Queenie for the past two years, admitted that she deserved the victory based on her commitment and performance in training despite the difficulties faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We faced various obstacles… for example I’d be outside the gate while the athletes are quarantined here. So, we’d meet three times a week and (conduct) training via video and WhatsApp. We try to stay strong, avoid injuries and this result is very important as a motivation for us to continue to chase our dreams,” he said.
The two-day Malaysia GP, which began yesterday, is the first competitive meet for most of the national athletes since the pandemic began early last year. – Bernama
