MSSM: Johor, Sarawak Tied For Lead As Action Gets Hotter By The Day

JOHOR BAHARU, May 19 (Bernama) -- Host Johor and Sarawak are locked in a close battle for the overall title at the 52nd edition of the Malaysian Schools track and field (MSSM) meet at the Larkin stadium here.

As the competition entered the half way mark Wednesday, both Johor and Sarawak were tied on eleven gold medals each but Johor had its nose in the lead simply because of the one extra silver medal they had won, while the chasing pack will have a mountain to climb in their bid to catch the leaders.

Infect, the battle had already begun from day (Tuesday) with Sarawak moving into the lead with seven gold medals against Johor's five.

But there was a change of fortune today and it was Johor's strength in the girls 4X100m relay which gave the host a lift with a clean sweep of all three gold medals in the U-12, U-15 and U-18 categories.

The home fans had more than one reason to cheer, with the fastest schoolgirl in the country, Chiew Hui Lin, spearheading the challenge.



The 17-year old from Taman Daya School here, led the U-18 quartet to victory with a record breaking time of 48.53secs, en route to demolish the old mark of 48.60secs held by another Johor quartet since 2002.

"I believe we could have clocked a faster time if the weather had been fine. Since we were running in the rain, it affected our performance. But I am happy to have won a gold for the state and my second gold medal of the meet.

"I still have the 200m and the 4X400 metres to come and it will be nice if I can win four gold medals," said Hui Lin.

Their U-12 squad were also not to be outdone and they emerged unchallenged with a time of 52.26secs for a new record, shattering the old mark of 52.63secs held by Sarawak.

Johor's other gold medals came from Nurul Amyza Rasid in the Girl's U-12 long jump with a distance of 4.77m, Chong Wen Xin from the Boy's high jump event with a clearance of 1.35m and the girl's 5,000m walk (U-18) through Pua Ling Ting in a time of 29:29.91secs.

Sarawak accumulated their gold medal haul today through Casier Lee's victory in the girls U-18 shot put, 14-year old Billy Edward's gold in the boy's U-15 javelin with a throw of 51.36m, Kee Siew Lian's triumph in the girl's U-18 triple jump with an effort of 11.40m and the boys U-15 sprint quartet swept the field to win in 43.20secs.

"We are determined to win the overall title after losing it to Terengganu last year to maintain Sarawak's proud tradition in the championship," said Paul Lau, head of the Sarawak Schools sports unit