Newsflash: Calvin Kang rewrites national junior 100m record

Promising sprinter Calvin Kang re-wrote his national junior 100m record en route to finishing fifth in the Boys 100m at the 13th Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Jakata this afternoon.

The 17-year-old student clocked 10.53sec to slice 0.02sec off his national mark of 10.55sec during his semi-final to emerge as the third fastest qualifier for the final.

Alas, Calvin was not able to repeat his feat in the final which took place four hours later and finished joint-fourth with Salfa Omar of the United Arab Emriates in 10.60sec.

The event was won by Macau’s Lai Chu Ho in 10.43sec while Sri Lanka’s Shehan Abepitiya (10.55sec) and Macau’s Tsui Chi Ho (10.56sec) were second and third respectively.

Even though Calvin didn’t finish on the podium, a bigger prize could be waiting for him in August.

His new record today makes him Singapore’s fastest man this season and a certainty for the SAAA’s nomination for the wildcard entry into the 100m at the Beijing Olympics.

Meanwhile, jumper Matthew Goh didn’t have a great day at the office as he finished ninth in the long jump at the championships. The 17-yearld, who holds the natinal junior mark of 7.23m, could only manage 7.06m this time and finished ninth.

Even if Matthew had broken his national junior mark, he would still not have finished among the medals. Such was the high standard of the competition that a sixth spot was all Taiwan’s Wang Ming En could manage with his 7.26m effort.

The event was eventually won by China’s Weng Yong Feng who set a new championship record with his distance of 8.05m

National triple jump record-holder Stefan Tseng will be in action tomorrow. 

The teenager, who is currently in fine form, is not expected to medal but the higher standards could well boost his efforts to re-write his national mark of 15.71m (which he set last month at the Pahang Open).

Here’s wishing Stefan all the best.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

(Note: Picture of Stefan Tseng taken from www.jamd.com)

Newsflash – Calvin Kang makes Asian Juniors 100m semis

My sources in the media tell me that rising young talent Calvin Kang has qualified for the 100m semi-finals of the 13th Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Jakarta after clocking 10.69sec in his heat today.

I’ve tried checking the competition’s website ( www.asianathletics.org ) for more information but nothing has been updated so far. 

But if so, it means that Calvin is back to clocking sub 10.6sec-timings after winning this year’s 2nd All-Comers meet in 10.77sec and the South-east Asian Junior Championships 100m crown in 10.70sec.

The 17-year-old Auckland University of Technology student currently holds the national junior record for the century sprint after clocking 10.55secs at the Sri Lanka Open last November.

The semi-finals and final of the 10m are scheduled for Friday afternoon (13 June ).

I’ve no news on whether long jumper Matthew Goh has qualified for Friday’s long jump final.

But the fact that the qualifying distances for the long jump final at the 2006 Championships ranged from 6.10m to 7.37m means that Matthew should qualify comfortably.

He is, after all, the national junior record holder at 7.23m. (By the way,  Kennth Wang Kan finished eighth in 206 with 6.92m).

Here’s wishing Calvin and Matthew all the best for Friday.   

Yours in Sport

Singapore Sports Fan

(Note; Picture of Calvin taken from The Straits Times)