KUALA LUMPUR: Savinder Kaur was unsure how she would perform at the Central Asian Athletics Championships in Uzbekistan.
The 25-year-old, however, showed her pedigree by winning the women's 800m gold medal in 2:11.15s at Afrosiab Samarkand City Stadium yesterday.
However, her winning time was slower than her personal best of 2:08.85, which she achieved at the Asean University Games in Thailand in July.
Ainuska Kalil Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan (2:12.67) and Anna Shumilo of Kazakhstan (2:12.72) bagged silver and bronze, respectively.
Savinder said she was unsure how good the Central Asian runners were in her first appearance at the competition.
"I ran a good race. It shows I have progressed under American coach Dwayne Miller.
"It is a good season for me. I hope to win more races. The main target is to win a medal at next year's Phnom Penh Sea Games," said Savinder, who won the 800m bronze (2:10.24) at the Hanoi Sea Games in May.
Four other Malaysian athletes also took part in the three-day competition.
Jonathan Nyepa and Khairul Hafiz Jantan achieved a 1-2 in the men's 100m final.
Sarawak-born Jonathan clocked 10.55, while Khairul, the 2017 Sea Games champion, posted 10.74.
Alisher Sadulayev of Turkmenistan took bronze (10.80).
Only four athletes participated in the men's discus event, and Irfan Shamsuddin won gold with a throw of 54.90m.
However, his attempt was more than 7m short of his national record (62.55).
Maksat Mammedov of Turkmenistan (52.41) and Uzbekistan's Rashidbek Sodikov (51.91) settled for silver and bronze, respectively.
Yeap Sean Yee finished fifth with a jump of 1.68 in the women's high jump.
Uzbekistan's Aleksandra Sharkaeva (1.85), Barnokhon Sayfullaeva (1.83) and Valeria Gorbatova (1.74) took the top three positions.