KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — National discus thrower Queenie Ting Kung Ni hopes to become the country’s first women to win a discus gold medal in the history of Malaysia’s participation in the SEA Games athletics competition.

Queenie as she is fondly known, however, acknowledged that the feat will not be a walk in the park, since the event has been dominated by Thailand’s Subenrat Insaeng, the defending gold medallist and the winner of the event since 2011.

The Thai athlete is also vastly experienced, having competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

At the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games which was held in 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 25-year-old Queenie who hails from Sarikei, Sarawak was just 0.73 meter (m) behind gold medal winner Subenrat (53.09m), to settle for the silver medal but had the consolation of setting a new National record with a throw of 52.36m.

The Sarawakian who had later smashed her own National record with a throw of 52.77m at the Institutions of Higher Learning (IPT) Grand Final Athletics Championships in December 2022, has set herself a target of 55m during the SEA Games in Cambodia which is scheduled from May 5-17 in Phnom Penh.

"I am very eager to win Malaysia’s first ever gold medal in the women’s discus event. It won’t be easy with Subenrat still around but anything can happen on competition day, therefore, I and coach Mohamad Ali Hamid will continue to work hard in training to achieve that record.

"The target for the SEA Games is to throw 55m and above. That target will later be raised to 58m for the Asian Games in Hangzhou (Sept 23-Oct 8), China,” she said when contacted by Bernama.

According to Subenrat’s current performance, the Thailand National record holder with a distance of 61.97m which was set during a competition in Czech Republic back in July 2018, threw the discus to a distance of 54.78m at the Thailand Open last November.

Queenie, the first women discus thrower in the country to surpass the 50m mark, and who is expected to take part in the IPT Circuit at the end of the week, is expected to undergo a two-week training stint in Australia as part of her preparations for the SEA Games in Cambodia.

If the National Sports Council (NSC) approves her training stint in Australia, she is expected to compete in two competitions there, including the Australian Open which will be held from March 30 to April 2.

"We are still waiting for the approval from the National Sports Council to take part in the competition. If there is no approval, we will continue to train at the Nationl Sports Council grounds in Bukit Jalil since there are good facilities there too,” she said.

While Thailand dominated the women’s discus in the SEA Games, Malaysia have ruled the men’s event since 2013 with Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin claiming the gold medal at the recent SEA Games. — Bernama