Fighting Sarah in tears after losing pole position

NOR Sarah Adi did everything right, including setting a personal best, but it was still not good enough to retain her pole vault gold medal.

And she was in tears as she surrendered her title to Thailand’s Chonthicha Khabut on countback.

Sarah, whose previous best was the 4.00m which won her the gold in her debut in Hanoi last year, cleared 4.05m but Chonthicha matched her feat at the Morodok Techo National Stadium.

Both failed at 4.10m but Chonthicha prevailed as Sarah had cleared her previous two heights (3.85 and 3.90) with two attempts.

Natalie Rose Steinlage Uy, who won the gold in Manila 2019, took bronze after clearing 4.00m.

A tearful Sarah said she did not expect the outcome.

“I did not train for the last two weeks due to an injury but I still didn’t expect this,” she said.

“I wanted to defend the gold and still managed to secure a personal best. I am sad because I lost on countback – and after doing so well despite my injury problems,”

“My opponent cleared all her jumps on her first attempt.”

Queenie Ting, too, had to concede defeat to her Thai rival Subenrat Insaeng in the women’s discus to settle for silver.

Subenrat, 29, effortlessly won her eighth consecutive women’s discus gold yesterday with a throw of 57.69m while Queenie could only 50.73 to finish second again to the Thailand powerhouse. Vietnam’s Le Thi Cam Dung ( 45.08) was third.

Queenie, 26, who also settled for silver in Hanoi last year, has vowed to beat the Thai in the next Games.

She said she was aiming to beat her national record of 52.77 set at the Inter-IPT leg in December last year but even that record would not have made a difference.

“I will beat her one day. I can definitely throw better than this but she is a two-time Olympian,” said Queenie.

“I have to take a few days break and the focus on the Hangzhou Asiad,” she said.

Another Malaysian, Choo Kang Ni, was also on the receiving end from Subenrat in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur and 2019 Manila where she was relegated to silver.

It will be a tough call for Queenie to upset Subenrat at the next Games.