THE LONG TRADITION IN HIGH JUMP

What is that Malaysia having over years been always able to produce calibre high jumpers who have gone to do proud to the national in international field?

Malaysia has dominated the men’s high jump in the SEA Games since 1977 with the likes of Baljit Singh, Ramjit Nairu, Ho Yoon Wah, S. Kesavan, Lou Cwee Peng, Loo Kum Zee, Lee Hup Wei and Nauraj Singh Randhawa, while among the women Nor Asiah Ismail and Yap Sean Yee come to mind.

Hup Wei has taken high jump to another level after Nauraj qualified for the Rio Olympics three years ago with his 2.30m qualifying jump at the Singapore Open.

Hup Wei’s success made history as the first Malaysian athlete to reach the finals of the prestigious World Athletics Championships, as the 32-year-old former national record holder, made a 2.29-metre jump in the Group B qualifying round at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, which was also his personal best, to qualify for the finals.

In the final, Hup Wei, however, failed to do a 2.30m jump to match the national record held by teammate Nauraj, when he only managed to hit 2.27m and finished eighth of twelve finalists.

Hup Wei, the winner of Asian Championships 2007, who is also SEA Games gold medalist, had qualified for the Beijing Olympics 2008 and London Olympics 2012.

Timesport spoke to past and present coaches and athletics administrators, on their views and observations of the long tradition in Malaysia producing calibre high jumpers.

Was it our school’s system, the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) programme, kids love to jump at school or good coaches?

In the case of Nauraj, it was parental support and a good coach in his long time Uzbeskiatan coach Alim Ahmejanov, guiding his talent for eight years before Australian Alex Stewart took over.

The lanky Nauraj, also gave up hockey before switching to athletics.

The views given are a combination of many. Below are the views:

K. Jayabalan: (former national coach and president of Panther Athletic Club in Ipoh)

High Jump prowess is a trend in Malaysia since the 60s. It has become a tradition to produce calibre high jumpers because athletes are motivated to emulate success of previous jumpers.

Besides, former jumpers too have played a role to mould new jumpers as they become coaches.

Also the fact, that there is little competition in high jump because of limited jumpers, make many who take up the discipline do well to win medals and thus in turn motivates them to improve further and continue to win more medals and in higher competition.

Datuk A Vaithilingam: (former Selangor Schools Sports Council secretary general in the 70s and 80s):

Many talents in various discipline were spotted then because of the sports system in schools where we had inter-class, inter-house and the school’s sports meet, where all students were required to compete in all events and many were spotted from there.

We also had dedicated sports teachers in the various sports, who also besides being coaches, acted as talent scouts.

Many of the high jumpers were groomed by these teachers from school before they made their mark at national and international level.

We also spotted many from the district meets where many hidden talents were unearthed.

Rennie Martin (former teacher, schools and national coach)

I personally coached and turned Ho Yoon Wah from a basketball player to a high jumper, who went to become a national jumper who cleared 2.10m to win the 1981 Manila Sea Games. Another high jumper I groomed was Nor Asiah Ismail.

Many high jumpers have been spotted and groomed from the schools’ level and also then the Kem Bakat saw many spotted and groomed from here.

We also had good coaches at the grassroots level, which played a key role in spotting, converting to disciplines that suited the athlete.

Tan Choo Mong (Perak Sukma coach and former schools and national coach)

Teachers have played a key role in spotting talent. When I was the Perak schools chief coach, I had a school teacher ask me to take Low Cwee Peng whom he thought had talent. I took him under my wings and groomed him to national material.

 But high jump also has a tradition because of past jumpers who have done well. Champions breed more champions and this was the case for high jump.

However, the athlete also must have talent, discipline, the desire to high success and also the coaches and facilities were also in place.

Ramjit Nairu (Former national high jumper)

High jump has a strong tradition because of past champions. In my case, I was so impressed with former national jumper Baljit Singh in Sabah, that I took up the discipline when I was 18 years ago. I was lucky to have been taken under the wing of Baljit himself and competed with him before he retired and became my coach.

I went on to became a national jumper before I retired after the 1989 Sea Games in KL. I am presently the president of the Putatan District athletics club and do my bit to coach in the discipline besides having programmes for budding athletes from the district.

Jorg Teichmann (German athletics coach who was with the National Sports Insititute for 21 years. Currently co owns physiotherapy centre called Rehamed Therapy at UOA Business Park in Shah Alam.)

Good coaches for high jump has seen Malaysia keep its tradition in high jump.

I had personally coached Loo Kum Zee when he won the bronze medal at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998 and also had Hup Wei under my wings.

The National Sports Council (NSC) have also had good coaches in various disciplines who have played a key role in constant flow of athletes in various disciplines.

There is generally a high interest in high jump in Malaysia and there are good grassroots coaches who put the athletes on the right track.

Balwant Singh Kler (athletics statistician and sports administrator)

Good coaches, past high jumpers who become role models and coaches and personally interest and encouragement of individuals, have played a key role in keeping the high jump tradition.

I have personally played a role to develop Ramjit by sponsoring him to competitions and exposing him before he made his mark.

ENDS.

Chef de mission sets pace for Rio

Commentary

 Olympics chef de mission, Tan Sri Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid, has shown full committment in ensuring a high standard for the Rio-bound team managers and coaches.

The acting president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia is leaving no stone unturned in getting to know each team, watching the athletes in training and finding out for himself their preparations for the Olympics.

On Wednesday, after meeting the sailing and diving team in the morning, Mohamed Al Amin attended a special briefing on safety, health, anti-doping and the dos and don’ts of the Games for the Malaysian contingent to the Olympics and Paralympics before chairing the 2^nd team managers meeting for the XXXI Olympic Games in Bukit Jalil.

In his opening address, the chef de mission made it very clear to the team officials that they were responsible for their athletes being in the best frame of mind, that they were well prepared for the challenge ahead and ensuring that everything aspect of the athletes' well-being was looked into.

He said as much as Malaysia wanted to return with medals, no one could criticise those athletes who had tried their best at the Games.

There were 13 Olympic-bound athletes, eight para athletes, nine coaches and 30 officials (including team managers) at the briefing.

The presentation was very educational, especially on the Zika virus threat, yellow fever (doctors from the Ministry of Health), safety measures (Royal Malaysian Police Special Branch) and medical services provided by the National Sports Institute (NSI) medical team led by Dr Arshad Tuji.

However, whether the points made at the presentation and briefing reach the ears of the athletes and officials who were not present because of training or competition schedules remains to be seen.

The National Sports Council (NSC), NSI and Olympic Council of Malaysia have covered all key aspects of the upcoming trip to Rio in the hope of an incident-free Malaysian participation.

But all that will come to naught if the team managers and coaches present at the seminar do not deliver the message to their athletes.

OCM secretary-general Datuk Low Beng Choo also reminded the team managers that their roles were not ceremonial and that they were named for the Games because they had the capability to manage their athletes.

Still, it is sad that archery still has unresolved issues with their leadership of the association and it is hoped that this will not affect the management of the athletes or their performance.

Then, there are the concerns as to whether the contingent can bring food from home to Rio or eat at a Malaysian restaurant there.

The Olympic Village has an international array of cuisine and halal food and if Malaysian athletes and officials are still concerned about having home-cooked food and instant noodles, it does not speak well of our sportsmen and women.

The contingent have to go to Rio with a positive attitude, expect the best and be ready for whatever challenge that is thrown their way. Negative thoughts are only going to undermine their mental strength.

It is hoped that the team officials going to Rio play their role of supporting the athletes well but please do not make excuses for them.

To date, 26 athletes from ten disciplines – archery, cycling, diving, swimming, sailing, shooting, athletics, badminton, open-water swimming and weightlifting – have qualified for the Games. Six more are pending – two men and two women from golf, one wildcard from athletics (female) and one wildcard (women) from swimming – which would finalise the Malaysian squad at 32.

It is a small contingent, so managing them without any untoward incident should be a breeze.

Al Amin is working very hard to ensure that everything is in order before the contingent leaves for Rio and has implemented standard operation procedures for all. And with the NSC, NSI and OCM working equally hard to ensure that everything goes smoothly, the last thing that is needed is for the team officials to slip up.

Team officials must be reminded that this trip to Rio is not a holiday or a reward. They will be there to serve the athletes and to ensure that all directives are strictly adhered to. They must also motivate and guide the athletes so that they deliver the best results possible.

All athletes will return a day after the completion of their event to avoid any problems in managing them after the event and also for their own safety, both health and security wise.

With everything in place and a slightly a month before the Games, it is hoped that nothing is done to derail whatever has been planned so meticulously by the relevant authorities.

The Journey to Rio is all set for flag-off and it is hoped that every effort is made by both the officials and athletes to ensure nothing mars the last leg of their preparations.

TONY is a sports

journalist with more than
three decades of experience
and is passionate about
local sports.
He can be reached at
tmariadass@gmail.com

Twitter: @tmariadass​