Nauraj Singh leaps his way to the world athletics championships

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 —  National high jumper Nauraj Singh Randhawa has the opportunity to make a name for himself after booking his ticket to the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon in the US from July 15-24.

This was confirmed by the national athletics squad head coach Mohd Manshahar Abdul Jalil, who said that Nauraj qualified after the 30-year-old athlete secured a place in the top 32 of the world rankings.

“The fact that Nauraj managed to place himself on the list is no mean feat and the country is proud,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Mohd Manshahar said in Oregon, Nauraj would have to jump at least 2.30 metres (m) which is his national record to reach the final stage of the tournament and follow in the footsteps of former national high jumper Lee Hup Wei in 2019.

He urged Nauraj to work harder and be more disciplined in training to improve his weaknesses to enable him to advance to the finals.

“Nauraj has to compete with the best athletes in the world and it is not going to be easy for him to advance to the final. It will depend on his performance on the day of the match.”

“But nothing is impossible, anything can happen, if he can surpass 2.32m or breaks the national record of 2.30m, maybe he will be in the best group. Any less than that he will only be in the top 16,” said Mohd Manshahar.

Oregon will be Nauraj’s second appearance at the world championships after London in August 2017. He is scheduled to start the qualifying round on July 15 and the final is scheduled for July 17.

At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Hup Wei made history by becoming the first Malaysian athlete to advance to the finals of the prestigious tournament since being introduced in 1938 by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF).

Hup Wei made a jump of 2.29m in the qualifying round before finishing the final in eighth place out of a total of 12 athletes with a jump of 2.27m.

NMT as reported by Bernama