Nauraj, a high jumper from Johor, went to Australia in January for three-month training stint. On Thursday, he broke the national record to emerge victorious in the Singapore Open Athletics Championships at the National Stadium – the victory also comes with a ticket for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.
According to Malaysian daily The Star, the 24 year-old performed a perfect 2.29m high jump, smashing the record held by Lee Hup Wei, which was at 2.27m. Nauraj is the 13th Malaysian to qualify for the Olympics.
Besides winning the gold, Nauraj Singh improved on his personal best of 2.25 metres set at the Canberra Track Classic two months ago.
It was Nauraj Singh's fourth win in international competitions this year, adding to his three wins during the Australian Athletics Tour.
Nauraj also said that he would request the National Sports Council (NSC) and the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) to send him for another training stint in Australia to prepare for the Rio Olympics.
“I’m physically in good shape and I must thank coach Alex (Stewart) from Australia, who helped me improve on my techniques and also build up my confidence level,” said Nauraj. “I made steady progress in Australia and won all four competitions I took part in. “I learned of lot of from Alex and the Singapore Open has to be the best outing of my career,” added Nauraj, who is majoring in exercise science at University Malaya.
Nauraj Singh Randhawa - Malaysian High Jumper Source: Supplied
