KUALA LUMPUR: Ironman Jonah Chang Anak Rigan is confident of standing out at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) as the Sarawak-born targets gold in the shot put, discus, and hammer events.
Athletics at the Malaysia Games begin tomorrow, and the 21-year-old is the favourite in all three events.
Jonah holds the national record in shot put with a throw of 18.46m, set at the Pahang Open in Kuantan in May.
His personal bests are 46.17m for discus and 53.54m for hammer.
Jonah, who is from Sarikei, aims to build on his performance from last month's Terengganu Open, where he won gold in shot put, silver in hammer, and bronze in discus.
National coach Frantisek Petrovic said Jonah is expected to win, as he is the national No. 1 junior athlete in all three field events.
"Jonah will be the athlete to beat at Sukma. He is feeling confident and aims for all three gold medals. Additionally, he wants to make an impression as this will be his last Sukma appearance," said Petrovic.
Jonah will begin his campaign with the shot put tomorrow, followed by discus on Thursday and hammer on Friday.
In the 2022 KL edition, Jonah won gold in shot put and silver in both discus and hammer.
Meanwhile, Sabah's Hannsen Yap and Pahang's Efrain Feerzan Khan are the favourites in the men's 100m tomorrow.
Efrain won bronze in this event at the Malaysian Open in Kuantan in June.
Hannsen clocked a personal best of 10.41s in the semi-finals of the Asian Under-20 Championships in Dubai in April, qualifying for the World Under-20 Championships later this month in Peru.
Selangor sprinter Nur Afrina Batrisyia Rizal, with a personal best of 11.81s, is expected to win the women's 100m race.
The Sukma record of 11.81s was set by Terengganu sprinter Azreen Nabila Alias in the 2018 edition in Perak.