High jumper Lee Hup Wei pays a high price for winning a gold medal at the Qosanov Memorial in Almaty, Kazakhstan over the weekend.
The Malaysian picked up an ankle injury during the event, forcing him out for two weeks. And also he won't be having his coach at the Tokyo Olympics.
This was confirmed by the Malaysian athletics team manager for the Kazakhstan meet, Datuk Wan Hisham Wan Salleh.
"Hup Wei picked up an ankle injury during the gold medal jump, and he said he might need a two-week rest to recover," said Wan Hisham.
He leaped 2.10m for the gold, but it was below his personal best of 2.29m, and lower than the Olympic qualifying mark of 2.33m.
However, Hup Wei (ranked internationally at No 19), will still be in Tokyo next month as one of the top-32 high jumpers in the world.
Earlier, Hup Wei had wanted to take his Uzbek coach, Alexander Gasparyan, to the Olympics, but the Malaysian Athletics Federation said the request will only be met if he hit the 2.33m mark in Almaty.
Following Hup Wei's 2.10m effort in Almaty, Kedah AAA secretary K. Govindarajoo will instead follow the jumper to Tokyo. Sorry, Gasparyan,
Meanwhile sprinters Jonathan Nyepa and Ilham Suhaimi failed to meet the Olympic qualifying mark despite winning medals in Almaty.
Jonathan bagged his second silver after clocking 21.76s in the 200m while Ilham got the bronze on 21.92s. On Saturday, Jonathan also won silver in the 100m with a slow time of 10.64s.
Kazakhstan's Vitality Zems, who was first with 21.19s, also won the 100m on Saturday.
The Tokyo Olympics qualifying time for the 200m is 20.24s, while Jonathan's personal best is 20.92s.
In the triple jump, Hakimi Ismail failed to be among the medallists when he managed only a 15.62m leap, which was lower than his personal best of 16.77m. The Olympic qualifying mark is 17.14m.