KUCHING: National athlete Jonah Chang Rigan is still in the process of recovering from a shoulder injury but that did not stop him from winning gold in the men's shot put at the Sarawak Malaysia Games today.
The Sarawakian even broke the games record with his throw of 17.66 metres at the Sarawak Stadium, bettering the former mark of 17.31m set by Adi Alifuddin (Terengganu) during the 2010 Melaka games.
Sabah's Pan Hong Seng (14.38m) and Kelantan's Wan Mohd Irfan Wan Mohd Tahar (13.83m) settled for silver and bronze respectively.
Jonah admitted it was a bittersweet win as he had hoped to break his own national record of 18.46m during the event.
"I wanted to go more than 18m but this is the best I can manage for now," said Jonah, who picked up the injury during the Terengganu Open last month.
"Gold is a positive result but in terms of my throw, I do feel a bit disappointed but I did not want to show that to the fans.
"I could not take too much of a risk as I still have the discus and the hammer throw to compete in."
Meanwhile, the men's triple jump saw Perak's Shah Sholihin Azshar clearing 15.41m to claim gold. Selangor's Izzul Haniff Mohd Raffi (14.96m) and Eljoe Gutuoh (14.71m) took silver and bronze respectively.