KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — Nauraj Singh Randhawa is looking forward to continuing Malaysia’s traditional dominance in the SEA Games men’s high jump event, in the absence of defending champion and former teammate Lee Hup Wei.
Malaysia has won the men’s high jump gold medal in every edition since 1977 at the biennial Games, except in the 2005 SEA Games in Manila, where Nguyen Duy Bang of Vietnam claimed the gold.
Nauraj Singh, who holds the national record with a jump of 2.30 meter (m), won consecutive gold medals in 2013 Naypyidaw, 2015 Singapore and 2017 KL editions.
But the 30-year-old lost the title to Hup Wei at the 2019 Philippines Games on countback, with Hup Wei winning his fourth gold after the ones won in the 2007, 2009 and 2011 editions.
With 34-year-old Hup Wei now retired, Nauraj Singh will have the company of Mohamad Eizlan Dahalan, 22, at the Hanoi Games from May 12 to May 23.
“I want to win the gold for Malaysia, I am not so interested in the height (to record a new season-best), so it does not matter. I am training hard now to be in the best condition for the SEA Games.
“I will show up there giving all that I have, 110 per cent, whatever comes with that, I will be very delighted,” he said during a sponsorship ceremony with Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad (AMB) at the National Sports Council here, today.
Nauraj Singh, who has a season-best of 2.27m set in an indoor meet in January, said he is giving equal attention to all the major competitions this year, starting with the SEA Games, followed by the Birmingham Commonwealth Games from July 28 to Aug 8 and Hangzhou Asian Games from September 10 to September 25.
Meanwhile, the Johorean, who is currently based in Germany, said the collaboration with AMB provides him with beneficial nutritional meals to achieve greater heights in terms of performance and to speed up the recovery process.
Apart from Nauraj Singh, heptathlete Norliyana Kamaruddin and national women’s discus throw record holder Queenie Ting Kung Ni, were also provided with Ajinamoto’s Kachimeshi winning meal, planned and developed specifically for athletes based on sports, and aminoVITAL (jelly drink with amino acids).
— Bernama
