KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s discus thrower, Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin, and women’s hammer thrower, Grace Wong Xiu Mei, will be the backbone of Malaysian Athletics (MA) at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan.
MA’s Secretary-General, Norhayati Karim, said Irfan and Grace are currently training abroad, as they prepare to shine at the 20th edition of the quadrennial games scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4.
“Muhammad Irfan is currently undergoing a training camp in Croatia under the guidance of a personal coach while Grace is training in China in preparation for the Asian Games,” she said when met recently.
Last year, Irfan continued his dominance at the SEA Games when he won his seventh consecutive gold at the 2025 edition in Thailand.
The 30-year-old athlete from Negeri Sembilan not only won gold but also created personal history when he broke the games record with a throw of 60.23 metres (m), erasing the old record of 59.50 m held by former Singaporean champion, James Wong Tuck Yim, at the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei.
The national record holder with a throw of 62.55 m in 2017 in Austria was previously in 12th place at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games with a throw of 53.86 m, fifth place at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games (57.70 m) and sixth place at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games (58.94 m).
Grace, who has never set foot in the Asian Games, maintained her status as Southeast Asian women’s hammer throw queen for the third time in a row by defending her gold at the Thailand SEA Games 2025.
She also broke her own national and SEA Games record with a throw of 65.41 m.
The Sarawakian athlete’s record erased the SEA Games record of 61.87 m she threw in Phnom Penh 2023, in addition to renewing the national record of 63.53 m set at the Malaysian Open in Kangar, Perlis, last August. – BERNAMA
