Grace exults after shattering the SEA Games and national record at the Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok during the 2025 SEA Games in this file photo.
KUCHING (July 27): Sarawak’s hammer thrower Grace Wong Xiu Mei and Negri Sembilan’s discus thrower Muhd Irfan Shamsuddin are the only two Malaysians competing in athletics at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Both were selected as they represented Malaysia’s best hopes of making the finals of their respective events.
‘Amazing’ has been tagged with her name since the Sarikei-born Grace started beating older and bigger opponents at the MSSM national schools championships as a Primary Four pupil. The 154cm (5ft 1inch) tall four-time SEA Games champion is making her second appearance at the Commonwealth Games.
She made the cut of 12 finalists at the 2022 Games held in Birmingham, England. The medal winners registered distances of 74.08, 69.63 and 67.53m as Grace managed 61.30m to finish ninth.
The overwhelming favourite in Glasgow is reigning world and Olympic champion Camryn Rogers of Canada who recently recorded 81.13m for the second furthest distance all-time in the event. India has entered 18-year old Anashka Yadav who reached 67.02m to break her country’s national record just last month.
Grace, who picked up her first Malaysia Games (Sukma) medal at the age of 13, was in ‘amazing’ form again at last December’s SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand. She smashed her own national record three times in less than an hour to improve her personal best (PB) to 65.41m. The 25-year-old ‘pocket’ dynamo is raring to show the benefit of her training stint in China this year under ex-national coach Gu Yuan.
Irfan is the reigning and seven-time ace in discus at the SEA Games. Two years ago he threw 59.53m in Birmingham to finish behind nine others led by the top three who recorded distances of 67.26, 64.99 and 64.58m. The 31-year-old giant (190cm or 6ft 3inch tall) has already reaped some fruits from his European training stint with a new national record of 62.87m last month.
Meanwhile, the highlight on the field at the Scotoun Stadium in Glasgow will be the clash of three world-class titans in the men’s javelin. The 2020 and 2024 Olympic champions – India’s Neeraj Chopra (PB: 90.23m) and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (PB: 92.97m) respectvely – will battle a third Asian giant Rumesh Tharanga of Sri Lanka (PB: 92.62m).
Malaysia’s fastest man Muhd Azeem Fahmi (PB: 10.09s) will not feature in the blue riband event on the track. Also absent is Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon who was the bronze medallist at the 2022 Games. Yupun (PB: 9.96s), who arrived in Birmingham four years ago as the first man in South Asia and 10th in Asia to go under 10sec, announced his retirement last week.
Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (PB: 9.77s) will lead the Jamaican charge to wrest the sprint crown from African hands who are led by defending champion Ferdinand Omanyala (PB: 9.77s) of Kenya and US Auburn-trained 21-year-old Kayinsola Ajayi (PB: 9.82s) of Nigeria.
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