NATIONAL long jumper Andre Anura Anuar endured a forgettable outing at the Asian Games, finishing last in the long jump qualification round after a disappointing series of attempts.
The 27-year-old fouled on his first two jumps before finally recording a legal mark on his third and final attempt, but it wasn't enough, with Anura managing only 6.59m at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Sunday (Sept 27).
Andre finished 15th out of the 17 but only the top 12 qualify for the final.
Coach Mohd Firdaus Salim said: "It's not the result we wanted – definitely not. All his jumps were good, conditions were good, everything was okay."
"The trial jumps were good, the first jump was also good. He was in the 7.90m to 8m area, but before the jump, he was over the board. It was the same in the second.
"On the third jump, we tried to adjust so it wouldn't foul, but he just couldn't execute it. He didn't even complete the jump – he just ran through.
"It's frustrating because everything else was good."
Firdaus added that Anura's focus now shifts to the Asean University Games at the end of the year.
"What we need to fix is the run-up, so he doesn't foul.
"The jumps are fine. I'm not sure where the root cause is yet. We'll need to re-examine it," he said.
RESULT
Qualifying
Long jump (Group B): 1. Anvar Anvarov (Uzb) 8.00m, 2. Murali Sreeshankar (Ind) 7.84m, 3. Shi Yuhao (Chn) 7.64m. Selected: 8. Andre Anura Anuar 6.59m.
