By Les Tan and Erwin Wong
Wong Kai Yuen, 19, set a new national junior and SEA junior record of 18.22m with his fifth throw. (Photo 1 courtesy of Singapore Athletic Association)
Bukit Gombak Stadium, Saturday, November 16, 2013 – Wong Kai Yuen, 19, set a new national junior and South-east Asian (SEA) junior record of 18.22m in the shot put (6kg) at the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) Track and Field Series 7.
Kai Yuen broke his own national junior record of 17.39m, which earned him a bronze medal at the 2012 Asian Junior Championships. He threw 17.97m with his second attempt before setting the new record of 18.22m with his fifth throw.
Kai Yuen has now broken the junior record six times since Scott Wong threw a 15.14m in 2008. This is Kai Yuen’s final year competing as a junior.
The distance is also a new SEA junior record as it bettered the existing mark of 17.78m. But the records were not exactly unexpected as Wong revealed that he was already regularly throwing around 17.50m during training without tapering.
Said the national serviceman of his record-breaking feat: “I was quite confident of breaking both records as I was in good shape physically coming into this meet even though it didn’t exactly go as well as I had hoped technique-wise.
“I just wanted to end my 2013 season on a good note, especially after having to come back from studying for my A-Levels and going through Basic Military Training, having enlisted in February this year, which disrupted my training quite a bit. I have my coach James Wong to thank for that (record).”
Meanwhile, his coach, veteran James Wong, 44, threw a season best of 50.59m in the discus in the lead up to the SEA Games. James has nine discus gold medals to his name, the last coming at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia with a 51.32m effort. His throw is the fourth-best among his SEA rivals this year. Kwanchai Numsomboon of Thailand threw a SEA-leading 52.65m at the Singapore Open Track and Field Championships in June 2013.
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