KUALA LUMPUR: On a sweltering day, two Malaysians were in fiery form as they smashed national records in different sports today.
In the shot put, Jonah Chang Anak Rigan broke his own national mark three times at the Pahang Open at the Darul Makmur Stadium.
The 21-year-old Sarawakian registered 17.69m, 18.09m and 18.46m in three throws to shatter his previous national record of 17.67m,
Jonah is the first Malaysian ever to break the 18-metre barrier. MAF's Kamal Farhan Abdul Rahman finished second (15.15m) and Kelantan's Wan Irfan Wan Tahar was third (14.20m).
Jonah, who won a silver in last week's Philippines Open with 17.10m, said: "I never expected to break my national record three times in one competition.
"It is a dream come true for me to break the 18-metre barrier, which I have been trying to achieve since last year."
Meanwhile at the National Shooting Range in Subang, Melaka's Alia Sazana Azhari cracked the women's 25m pistol national record in the Selangor Shooting Championships.
Alia shot 42 points for gold and erased her own national record of 39. Selangor's Dina Batrisya Adi Azhar won silver while Terengganu's Wan Nur Anissa Wan Nazri bagged bronze.
"I could feel the heat wave during the final and I drenched myself with water. It cooled me off and I managed to break my national record for the fourth time since last year," said Alia, 31, who will compete in the World Cup in Munich at the end of this month.