KUALA LUMPUR: Hammer thrower Jackie Wong Siew Cheer set a new national record of 65.34 metres after coming in second in his event at the Korean Open in Jeongseon, South Korea on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old national athlete erased his own record of 64.95m which he set on May 19 at the Government Services Championships in Kangar, breaking the national mark for a third time this year.
Ranked No 1 in the Southeast Asian rankings, Wong is the favourite to win gold at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August, which would be his first after three previous bronze medals.
Wong finished behind South Korean Lee Ywun-chul, who won the event with a throw of 71.21m, while another South Korean, Jang Sang-jin claimed third with a 63.80m effort.
Sprinter Jonathan Nyepa won a second silver medal for Malaysia when he clocked a personal best of 10.28 seconds in the men's 100m final.
It was the second fastest time ever posted by a Malaysian in the event behind the national record of 10.18s set by Khairul Hafiz Jantan at the Malaysia Games last year.
Jonathan, whose previous best was 10.36s, also overtook Khairul as the fastest 100m runner in Malaysia this year while at the same time taking over the mantle as the fastest Southeast Asian sprinter of 2017.
The 21-year-old from Sarawak finished second to South Korean Kim Kok-young, who ran a Korean national record of 10.07s, while Lee Jae-ha, also from the host country, clocked 10.41s for third.
Malaysian sprinter Nixson Kennedy came in fourth in a personal best of 10.43s.
In other events, 17-year-old Grace Wong claimed a bronze medal in the women's hammer with a throw of 55.99 metres while on Monday, G. Aravinn Thevarr finished fourth in the men's 200m final in 21.33s.