NST Online>14/2/2008

By : Devinder Singh

ROSLINDA Samsu has the opportunity to add the Asian Indoor pole vault title to the outdoor gold she won last year when the competition begins in Doha, Qatar today.

Only three other women stand in Roslinda’s way as she gets her season underway with the focus primarily on achieving her personal best at the Beijing Olympics in August.

Roslinda, 25, who despite winning the Asian Track and Field gold in Amman, Jordan last year in a three-woman contest, had a low-key season by her standards.

By her own admission, she was not entirely pleased with her performance although her season’s best of 4.35m was good enough to earn her an Olympic spot.

With a stated goal of clearing 4.45m this year, which would equal the Olympic Category A qualifying mark, Roslinda is intent on re-writing her national mark of 4.40m.

She gets her first stab at the national record today but standing in her way to the top of the podium are two Japanese rivals who could derail her gold medal bid.

Roslinda, the Korat Sea Games gold medallist, needs to see off the challenge of Takayo Konda and Ikuko Nishikori, who achieved season bests of 4.35m and 4.30m respectively in 2007.

But neither Takayo nor Ikuko, the defending Asian Indoors champion, have cleared 4.40m before although the former did set a new personal best last year.

Ikuko’s championship record of 4.20m is likely to fall if all three vaulters push each other to the limit in the four-woman contest that is rounded out by Singapore’s Rachel Yang.

Also seeing action today is Zaiful Zainal Abidin who will run in the men’s 400m heats with the aim of advancing to tomorrow’s six-man final.

Sea Games winner Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian and Muhd Faiz Mohammad take to the track in the men’s 60m hurdles heats tomorrow.

~ by missjewelz on February 14, 2008.