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Cuban coaches keen to train Malaysian athletes

KUALA LUMPUR: Cuban athletics coaches Yunaika Crawford and Jorge Luis Alfaro are keen to train Malaysians.

Crawford, 41, won the women's hammer bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics while Alfaro is a former national high jumper.

The two Cubans are in Malaysia for six weeks to conduct coaching clinics in several states.

Alfaro had also worked as a national coach in Malaysia from 2008 to 2012, and he trained former Asian champion Lee Hup Wei for the 2012 London Olympics.

Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) Technical Director John Ballard said Crawford and Alfaro have expressed their interest to coach here.

"I have asked them to apply, and then we will consider their applications.

"Alfaro has coached our national high jumpers before. Hup Wei and Nauraj Singh won gold in the Sea Games, and they had competed in the Olympics," said Ballard.

Hup Wei featured in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, and Nauraj competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"We want to continue to produce more quality high jumpers and Alfaro has the ability to help us achieve it.

"We also need a good hammer coach to replace Gu Yuan who returned to China last year after the Hangzhou Asian Games.

"The Cubans are here to share their experience and educate our coaches and athletes," added Australian Ballard.

Crawford has been helping national hammer throwers like Jackie Wong and Grace Wong.

Ballard said MAF now has only one or two hammer throwers in the men's and women's events, when they should have five to eight.

He said coaches from the United States, Germany and Australia are interested in training Malaysian athletes, and the MAF hopes to get top-level expertise to improve the standards of athletics here.

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