KUALA LUMPUR: What has gone wrong with the sport of race walking in Malaysia? We used to produce medallists at Asian and Commonwealth Games level but none has even qualified for the Phnom Penh Sea Games in May.
None of the men and women walkers have qualified for the Sea Games on merit.
Former Sea Games champion Elena Goh said she is sad with the "low standards" of the current walkers in the country.
"We used to dominate the walk events in the Sea Games. The men and women's walkers would contribute gold medals, but today there is no walker who is good enough to even qualify for the Sea Games.
"Sadly, the walkers can't even come close to the qualifying times in both the mens and women's 20,000m events," said Elena, who won the women's 10,000m walk gold at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.
In the Malaysian Track and Field Championships (MTFC) in Bukit Jalil on Sunday, neither the men or women walkers could meet the Sea Games qualifying mark.
Army corporal Nurliana Rusni, 32, a mother of two, won the race in 2'07:25 but failed to come close to the qualifying time of 1'56:07.
In the men's 20,000m walk, winner K. Jeevan of Negri Sembilan clocked 1'50:36 but his time was nowhere near the qualifying mark of 1'37:43.
Elena said it's disappointing that the current batch of walkers are far from ready to represent Malaysia in the Sea Games.
"I was the last Malaysian walker to win a medal, bronze, in the 10,000m at the 2019 Sea Games.
"I retired early due to surgeries to both my knees in 2020 but I want to give back to the country," said Elena who joined Kawan Athletics last March to coach youngsters in race walking, middle and long distance running events.
"I took up the job as I want to look for new walk talents and share all of my experience with them. I hope to help the sport attract more walkers.
"Next month, I will organise a race walk camp in Kuala Lumpur to find walkers starting from the age of 10. My mission is to help the country to produce quality walkers," said Elena who also works as part time coach at Little Kickers which is an enrichment programme for children aged 18 months to eight years old.
Malaysia used to be a powerhouse in race walking in the region. V. Subramaniam, who won silver in the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, also bagged six gold and five silver in the Sea Games. G. Saravanan won gold in the men's 50km walk at the 1998 KL Commonwealth Games
Women walkers like Annastasia Raj and Yuan Yufang not only won medals in Sea Games for Malaysia, but also featured in the Olympics. Annastasia competed in the 10km walk in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and China-born walker Yufang featured in three consecutive Olympics in 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing.