Irfan’s Bronze Is Malaysia’s Only Medal As Asian Athletics Meet Comes To An End

BANGKOK, July 16 (Bernama) -- One bronze. That’s all Malaysia have to show for as the curtain came down on the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships at the Suphachalasai National Stadium here today.

The bronze medal came courtesy of discus thrower Irfan Shamsuddin, with a throw of 59.63 metres (m) yesterday.

Today, the national men’s 4x400m quartet could only finish seventh in the final, clocking 3 minutes and 11.63 seconds (s). The quartet recorded 3:10.62s yesterday.

Sri Lanka took home the men’s 4x400m gold in 3:01.56s followed by India (3:01.80s) and Qatar (3:04.26s).

The Malaysian quartet comprised 2023 SEA Games 400m gold medallist Umar Osman, Abdul Wafiy Roslan, Muhammad Firdaus Mohamad Zemi and Ruslem Zikry Putra Roseli. 

Abdul Wafiy said the quartet, who clocked 3:14.46s in the Singapore Open in April, was still new and this was only the second time that Ruslem Zikry ran with them.

He also said that Muhammad Firdaus was not in peak form as he was unwell due to food poisoning.

“We targeted clocking 3:09.00s in the final but failed to achieve it. But we hope to improve on our time at the World University Games (in Russia) next month,” he said.

Meanwhile, national women’s shot put record holder Nani Sahirah Maryata could only manage a distance of 14.92m to finish 10th today.

“I am disappointed because I failed to improve on my national record (of 15.22m set at the Perak All Comers in April).

“However, the stiff competition today has spurred me to do better next time,” she said.

China’s Song Jia Yuan came out tops in the event with a throw of 18.88m while India’s Abha Khatua (18.06m) and Manpreet Kaur (17.00m) settled for silver and bronze respectively.

-- BERNAMA