NEW CLARK CITY: Andre Anura Anuar broke the national record in men’s long jump today but it was not good enough for gold, leaving Malaysia with just two silver and two bronze medals on the opening day of the 30th SEA Games athletics competition here.
The Sabah-born athlete recorded a massive jump of 8.02m to break the 12-year-old national record and clinch the silver at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium.
The old record of 7.88m was set by Josbert Tinus at the Thailand Open in 2007.
“I did not expect to break 8m because I was just giving my best. I am grateful for breaking the national mark,” he told reporters.
His effort today was also better than his personal best of 7.90m recorded at the Berwang Open athletics championship in Kota Kinabalu on Nov 2 this year, which failed to be counted as a national record because it was aided by a tailwind of more than 2m/s.
The gold went to Indonesia’s Sapwaturrahman, who cleared 8.03m to crack the SEA Games record set by the Philippines’ Henry Dagmil in the 2007 edition in Korat, Thailand.
Thailand’s Suttisak Singkhon took the bronze with 7.89m.