Andre Not Joining Malaysian Open, To Focus On Qualifying For Asian Games

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (Bernama) -- National triple- and long- jumper Andre Anura Anuar will not be competing in the Malaysian Open at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Stadium that begins this Friday but will compete in the Korean Athletics Open in Yecheon, South Korea on Saturday.

His coach, Ahmad Firdaus Salim said the decision was made as the level of competition in the Korean Open was higher than the Malaysian Open and the championship was the last chance for this charge to qualify for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan this September. 

“This is part of the plan for him to qualify for the Asian Games. It’s not that I said that competing in Malaysia isn’t good but the sparring for his events isn’t strong enough.

“The sparring for events in Malaysia is okay, but for jumps so far none are a fight for Andre. If we go to Korea, we can find athletes jumping in the same range as Andre and there might be some who are better,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

He did admit that his charge was on the right track to qualify for both events based on last week’s training sessions.

Andre won both the long jump and the triple jump at the last Malaysian Open.

-- BERNAMA