KUCHING: While the throwers traditionally produce the goods at Sukma, Sarawak can also expect some medals from track athletes at Sukma Johor from March 6 to 14 next year.<\/p>\n
Sprint and hurdles head coach Noraseela Mohd Khalid has highlighted hurdling duo Mandy Goh Li and Alvine Jostine as potential gold medallists and others like Dion Dexter Kedang to spring some surprises.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competition on the track is expected to be tough but the current target is for Mandy to strike gold in the women\u2019s 400m hurdles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlvine and Dion are shaping up well for the challenge and I am hoping that they will deliver the medals for the Sarawak Contingent,\u201d said Noraseela during a training session at the Sarawak Stadium in Petra Jaya recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cSarawak has always been doing well in athletics especially in the throw events and we expecting to win a lot of medals in the field events while we have set a target of one gold in the track events in Sukma Johor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, she has reminded the athletes not to underestimate other teams in Johor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of the 25 athletes in the long list, the majority are newcomers and I am looking forward to them doing better in the next two editions of Sukma,\u201d said the coach from Penang who still holds the 400m hurdles national record of 56.02s set in 2006.<\/p>\n
The former Olympian and Asian Games medalist admitted that it had really been a difficult year for the state athletes as they were not only unable to undergo normal training after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic but also prevented from having exposure stints outside the country.<\/p>\n
However, she is looking forward to the athletes getting some competition exposure in the state time trials this month and November as well as the Perak Open in November.<\/p>\n