Knee injury proves costly for national high jumper Sean Yee

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 -- A left knee injury suffered by national women's high jump champion Yap Sean Yee affected her performance at the 97th Malaysian Open Athletics Championships here today.

Sean Yee, who only managed to win the silver medal, said she started to feel pain after completing her first jump of 1.55 metres (m).

Not only that, the height secured by the 27-year-old also saw her fail to get past the qualification limit on merit set for the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, this May, which is 1.78m.

"I suffered this injury since last week while competing in the Perak All-Comers Athletics Championship.

"I started to feel a little pain after trying the first jump at a height of 1.55m and after that I failed in my second jump at 1.67m, my knee started to swell," she told reporters after the medal presentation ceremony.

Perak athlete, Ngu Jia Xin won gold with the best jump of 1.67m while the bronze belonged to Amni Mohamad Naqib from Kedah. who also cleared 1.55m but had to settle for third place on countback.

Sean Yee, who represented the Malaysian Armed Forces, will undergo further treatment with the medical team to find out the extent of her injury after this.

Meanwhile, the SEA Games defending champion left it to the Malaysian Athletics Federation to select her to compete in category B (cost refunded if she wins a medal) if they want to send her to the biennial games.

"Actually I do not qualify for the SEA Games… I do not expect anything but if there is an opportunity, I am ready to go to compete," she said.

The national record holder with a jump of 1.83m at the 2017 SEA Games here said the lack of competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic was the main cause of her declining performance.

Therefore, she hopes to be able to participate in at least one tournament a month after this to help her get back her rhythm and achieve consistency in her jumps.

-- BERNAMA