KUALA LUMPUR: The maternal bond that runs deep between Shereen Samson Vallabouy and her mother, Josephine Mary, now literally goes further – to Oregon in the United States, for the World Athletics Championships.
In a new development, the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) have sent Josephine to the World Championships as the team manager and stand-in coach as her US-based coach Mason Rebarchek was unavailable to make it for the Oregon event due to personal reasons.
Josephine was the queen of the Malaysian track in the 1980s, and now her daughter, Shereen gets to appear on athletics' biggest stage.
Shereen is indeed a chip off the old block, as apart from her mother, her father, Samson Vallabouy, was also a national middle distance champion.
Shereen said she wants to do her mother, father and Malaysia proud.
The 24-year-old, who got a wild card for the world meet, is delighted to have her mother around when she races at the Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.
"I am meeting my mother after a year, and it feels so good to have her here as my team manager and coach.
"Her presence will spur me to run a good race," said Shereen when contacted by Timesport today,
The 400m runner, who is pursuing a degree in recreation and tourism at Winona State University in Minnesota, has a personal best of 52.68.
Shereen said her main goal at the World Championships is to break the longstanding national 400m record of 52.56 set by Rabia Abdul Salim 29 years ago.
"I have trained hard under coach (Mason) and I am all geared up for the race," said Shereen, who will compete in the 400m on Sunday.
Josephine, who arrived in the US yesterday, said: "Shereen is delighted to have me in the USA to give her motivation and support for her race.
"I don't want to put any pressure on her. But I am optimistic that she will have a good run to achieve her goals in the World Championships."
The other Malaysian competing in Oregon is high jumper Nauraj Singh Randhawa who qualified for the World Championships through his world No 30 ranking. The top 32 made the cut.
Nauraj, who featured in the 2017 London World Championships, will be in action in the qualifying rounds today, alongside world and Olympic champion Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar.
The pressure will be on Nauraj to record a good height in Oregon as he had cleared only 2.18m for silver (way off his national record of 2.30m) in the recent Hanoi Sea Games.
At the last World Championships, in Doha, Qatar, in 2019, high jumper Lee Hup Wei became the first Malaysian to qualify for the final with a mark of 2.29m.