KUALA LUMPUR: The sport of walking runs deep in Tan Chee Leong and his family.
The Penangite and his wife, D. Kavitha, have walked at international level. And now it is the turn of their son, Sriven Tan.
Chee Leong was a champion walker, winning the boys' 5,000m in three Asean School Championships in Jakarta (1993), Bangkok (1994) and Jakarta (1995). He also won bronze in the 10,000m walk in three Malaysia Games: 1994 in Perak, 1996 in Pahang and 1998 in Selangor, and a silver in the 2,0000m in 1998. Kavitha represented Penang in the 1993 International Junior Championship race walk.
Notably, the father and son made it a 1-2 finish at the 2019 Penang Starwalk. Chee Leong won the 7km race in 35:29 and Sriven came in second in 38:00.
Sriven, a Form Five student of SMK Haji Abdul Kadir, will make his debut in the Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Games (Sept 15-18). And he will start as a leading contender in the 10,000m and 20,000m. His results at the Malaysian Open in March (he won the 10,000m and 20,000m) have made him a favourite.
Sriven also finished on top of the podium in the 10,000m in the KL All Comers in Bukit Jalil in May, and he clocked a personal best of 49:27 in the Perak Open in Ipoh in June.
Chee Leong, 44, who is now the Penang state athletics coach, said he is happy that his son has kept the family tradition going.
"Sriven was into badminton at the age of 12, but he lost interest after a year. I advised him to switch to walking.
"He started off by winning gold in the 1.5km race in the Little Athletics Championships in Gambang in 2019. In the same year, he also won the 5,000m in the MSSM in Johor. Since then he has made progress in walking.
"I am impressed by my son's success in the Malaysian Open as he did not train for the 20,000m, but still took part and won gold.
"It shows that he has passion and the capability to be a national walker. I feel proud to train Sriven as he takes his training seriously.
"I had competed and won medals in many competitions, but did not feature in the Sea Games. I want my son to achieve what I could not achieve.
"I hope to see Sriven compete in the 2025 Bangkok Sea Games as I want him to concentrate on his SPM next March," said Chee Leong.
Sriven, who thanked his father for what he is today, said: "My goal is to do a personal best in the 10,000m and win a medal in the Malaysia Games.
"It will be really nice if I can also win a medal in the 20,000m as I had competed in the event only just once in the Malaysian Open in March."
In the Malaysia Games, Sriven is expected to face a strong challenge from Negri Sembilan's M. Sivanesh, who clocked 54:38.88 in the 10,000m to finish second in the Malaysian Open.