WHAT are the factors that led to Malaysia producing remarkable high jumpers at international level in the last six decades?
Since 1977, Malaysia have dominated men’s high jump at the Sea Games 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.
And in women’s high jump, Nor Asiah Ismail and Yap Sean Yee have shone for the country.
Recently, in a great leap forward for Malaysian athletics, Hup Wei has gone further than any others in the country at world level. At the other end, it is Nauraj, who had qualified for the Rio Olympics three years ago, who still holds the national record of 2.30m.
By their high standards, Hup Wei and Nauraj are set to turn the high jump event in the Philippines Sea Games in December into a two-horse race.
Hup Wei made history as the first Malaysian athlete to reach the final of the prestigious World Athletics Championships recently when the 32-year-old made a 2.29m jump (his personal best) in the qualifying rounds in Doha. In the final, Hup Wei posted 2.27m and finished eighth of 12 finalists. His eighth placing in world athletics is nevertheless commendable.
Hup Wei, who was a Sea Games gold medal winner, was once the best in the continent — when he won the 2007 Asian championship. He had also qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.
Timesport talked to coaches and officials (past and present) on Malaysia’s strong tradition of producing excellent high jumpers. Is it due to the country’s schools sport system, Malaysian Schools Sports Council programmes, good coaches or teenagers who love to jump at schools?
In the case of Nauraj, considered Malaysia’s best high jumper because of his national record, it was parental support and his long time Uzbekistan coach Alim Ahmejanov, who guided him for eight years before Australian Alex Stewart took over. The lanky Nauraj gave up hockey before switching to athletics
K. JAYABALAN (former national coach and president of Panther Athletic Club in Ipoh)
Malaysia has been good in high jump since the 1960s. It has become the country’s tradition to produce calibre high jumpers as our athletes are inspired by the successes of the previous jumpers.
The former jumpers, too, have played a role to mould the new jumpers when they became coaches.
Also, many who took up high jump did well to win medals because of few rivals in the discipline, and this in turn motivated them to improve and do well in higher level competition.
DATUK A. VAITHILINGAM (former Selangor Schools Sports Council secretary general in the 1970s and 1980s)
Many talented athletes in various disciplines were spotted then because of the sport system in schools where we had inter-class, inter-house and school sport meets, where all students were required to compete in many events, and many were spotted from there.
We also had dedicated sport teachers in the various sports, who also apart from 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 competitions where many talents were unearthed.
RENNIE MARTIN (former teacher, school and national coach)
I personally coached and turned Ho Yoon Wah from a basketball player into a high jumper. He went to become a national jumper who cleared 2.10m to win the 1981 Manila Sea Games gold. Another high jumper that I groomed was Nor Asiah Ismail.
Many high jumpers have been spotted and groomed from school level. The Kem Bakat programme (at the time) also spotted many talented athletes and developed them from there.
We also had good coaches at grassroots level, and they played a key role in spotting young talent and if necessary, guided them to change to other disciplines that suited them.
TAN CHOO MONG
(Perak Malaysia Games coach and former school and national coach)
Teachers have played a key role in spotting talent. When I was the Perak schools chief coach, a school teacher asked me to coach Cwee Peng whom he felt had talent. Cwee Peng trained under me and he became a national athlete.
High jump has a strong tradition because of the past national jumpers who have done well. Champions beget more champions and this was the case for high jump.
However, the athlete must have the talent, discipline, and desire for success, and also the coaches and facilities.
RAMJIT NAIRU (former national high jumper)
High jump has a strong tradition in Malaysia because of the past champions. In my case, I was so impressed by former national jumper Baljit Singh in Sabah that I took up the discipline. I was lucky to have come under the wing of Baljit, and I competed with him before he retired and became my coach.
I went on to become a national jumper before I retired after the KL 1989 Sea Games. I am now the president of the Putatan District athletics club and I do my bit to coach in the high jump besides having programmes for budding athletes in the district.
JORG TEICHMANN
(German athletic coach who was with the National Sports Institute for 21 years. He co-owns a physiotherapy centre in Shah Alam)
Good coaches for high jump have seen Malaysia keep its strong tradition in the sport.
I had personally coached Loo Kum Zee who won the bronze medal at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and I had also trained Hup Wei.
The National Sports Council also have good coaches in the various disciplines, and they have played a key role in the 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, former high jumpers who become role models, coaches, and encouragement from other individuals have played a major role in keeping Malaysia’s high jump tradition strong.
I have played my role in developing Ramjit by sponsoring him to competitions for exposure before he made his mark.