PETALING JAYA: Irene Jane Henry’s bronze medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games has ended Malaysia’s 16-year wait for a women’s weightlifting medal at the Games.
Making her Commonwealth Games debut, the 21-year-old from Sabah claimed bronze in the women’s 48kg event to become the first Malaysian woman to reach the podium since Raihan Yusof.
Raihan won bronze in the women’s 53kg category at the 2010 Games in India.
Irene came agonisingly close to winning silver but had to settle for a total lift of 167kg, just 1kg behind Nigeria’s Ruth Asuquo Nyong.
India’s Mirabai Chanu Saikhom took gold after setting a new Games record with a total lift of 190kg.
Despite finishing on the podium, Irene admitted she was disappointed to miss out on silver by the narrowest of margins after the final at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Armadillo on Sunday.
Her disappointment was compounded after her opening clean and jerk lift of 90kg was ruled unsuccessful despite an appeal from the Malaysian team.
“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be, even though I’ve successfully lifted 93kg many times before.
“Maybe I wasn’t at my best physically,” she said.
“Losing out on silver by just one kilogram really hurts, but I gave it my all.
“I couldn’t ask for another attempt because we only had three lifts, so I just had to accept the result.”
Malaysia failed to win any medals through their women lifters at the last three Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (2014), Gold Coast (2018) and Birmingham (2022).
The closest the country came to ending the drought was through Siti Aisyah Rosli, who finished fourth in the women’s 90kg event at the Gold Coast edition.
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