KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s shot put record-holder Jonah Chang Rigan chalked a good start to the season by clinching the gold medal in the shot put at the 2024 Kuala Lumpur All Comers Athletics Championships today.
More interestingly, the tournament saw the 21-year-old representing MSN Sarawak record a throw of 16.97m, which edged out the country’s para athlete champion Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli from MSN Para who settled for the silver medal (16.17m) in the final at the National Sports Council (NSC) Mini Stadium here.
The bronze medal went to Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Muhammad Luqman Hakim Baharudin with a throw of 13.41m.
Commenting on today’s competition, Jonah said he was relieved he was still able to perform satisfactorily despite taking a break before the 2024 season.
“During training, I didn’t (throw) as far as this, so it was a good result for this year’s first season.
“I don’t care about beating Ziyad or not, for sure this result shows that both of us are still in good shape, good performance is what is important,” he said after the competition.
Jonah said he aims to win three medals at the Sarawak Malaysia Games (Sukma) taking place in August, in addition to his dream of finishing as top performer at the games.
He said he also set a mission to break the national record he created as far as 17.67m at the Mokpo International Athletics Championships, South Korea, in October last year.
“I hope to record 18m at the Philippines Open in May and the Korean All Comers at the end of June,” he said. – March 2, 2024