Friday February 17, 2006
Poor form continues to plague high-jumper Ahmad
KUALA LUMPUR: The disappointing for of Commonwealth Games-bound Ahmad Najwan Aqra continued at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, which ended in Pattaya on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Terengganu high jumper only cleared 2.09m for seventh place, way off his personal best of 2.15m. He was also a big letdown in the Manila SEA Games last December, managing 2.11m to finish out of the medals.
Ahmad, who will leave for Australia with five other Melbourne-bound athletes on Sunday for a one-month training and competition stint, said: “I have not been performing well since last year.
“I am a bit worried about my performance. I hope that with the tough training in Australia, I will be able to give a creditable show in the Commonwealth Games.”
FOILED AGAIN: High jumper Ahmad Najwan Aqra could only finish seventh in the Asian Indoor meet.
The other members of the Commonwealth Games squad are Robani Hassan (110m hurdles), Mohd Shahrulhaizy Abdul Rahman (20km walk), Moh Siew Wei (100m hurdles), Noraseela Khalid (400m hurdles) and Roslinda Samsu (pole vault).
In the Pattaya meet, hurdler Mohd Faiz Mohamed bagged the bronze in the men’s 60m race. The Negri Sembilan hurdler clocked 7.91 to finish behind Chinese Liu Lilu (7.79) and Chen Ming (7.84).
The 23-year-old Faiz, a silver medallist in the 110m race in the Manila SEA Games, was surprised to win a medal because it was the first time that he race over 60m.
“I am delighted to have won the bronze and also dipping below eight seconds for the event,” said Faiz.
Faiz added the medal he won in Pattaya would inspire him to train harder and win a place in the Doha Asian Games in December.
“I want to compete in the Asian Games for the second time after Busan 2002,” said Faiz, who has to meet the 13.89 110m hurdles qualifying mark for Doha.