KUALA LUMPUR: Triple jumper Andre Anura Anwar's recent trip to Paris ended up in disappointment.
He had wanted to compete in the French Open from July 24-25, but wasn't able to.
Andre, who trained for two weeks in France in preparation for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, was not allowed to take part in the French Open. The organisers told a frustrated Andre that he did not submit the proper documents.
The Sea Games champion, who went to Paris with his coach Ahmad Firdaus Salim, said: "I had wanted to compete in the French Open to gauge my standard against the European athletes ahead of my first Commonwealth Games.
"The meet would have given me an idea of what I needed to do to improve for Birmingham.
"But much to my surprise, I was told that I cannot compete as I did not submit the proper documents.
"It is really disappointing and frustrating to come all the way to Paris and not being able to take part.
"I don't know if my coach or the person in charge of registering the foreign athletes for the competition made the blunder," said Andre who will arrive in Birmingham tomorrow from Paris for the Commonwealth Games.
However, the 21-year-old Sabahan added that he would not let the incident affect his performance in Birmingham.
"My mission is to improve on my personal best and qualify for the final.
"It will be great if I can break the national record (16.77m set by Hakimi Ismail in the 2017 KL Sea Games," said Andre.
Malaysia's other track and field athletes for the Games are Russel Alexander Nasir Taib (men's 200m), Irfan Shamsuddin (discus), Nauraj Singh Randhawa (high jump), Jackie Wong (hammer), Shereen Samson Vallabouy (women's 400m) and Grace Wong (hammer).