Road to Olympics: Coach Manshahar won't put pressure on high jumper Nauraj

Aware of the tough task ahead for Nauraj, the coach believes that the three-time SEA Games gold medallist will do his best to make his dream of competing in the world's biggest multi-sport Games a reality.

"I would prefer Nauraj to qualify for the Olympics on merit by clearing the qualifying mark of 2.33 meters (m) in the upcoming competitions.

"If we go by the world ranking, I believe it will be difficult for Nauraj to qualify because he is in 47th position. Only the top 32 (in high jump) will compete at the Olympics," he told Bernama.

Nauraj, who is currently training in Leipzig, Germany, is the national record holder, having cleared 2.30m at the 2017 Singapore Open.

Manshahar said that based on reports received, the 29-year-old Nauraj is in the best shape and also very focused on training in Germany.

"I was also informed that Nauraj is scheduled to take part in one competition in Europe next month. I hope he will use that opportunity to try and qualify for the Olympics," he said.

In January, Nauraj bettered his own national indoor record when he cleared 2.20m at the Vienna Indoor Track and Field Championships in Austria. It erased his previous mark of 2.19m set in 2019.

Previously, the media had reported Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk S.M Muthu as saying that there was a big probability that another national high jumper, Lee Hup Wei, would be given the wild card ticket to compete in Tokyo based on his ranking should no other national high jumper make the grade for the Olympics.

Based on the latest World Athletics ranking, Lee is placed 18th with 1,235 points.

Meanwhile, Manshahar hoped that the Malaysia Grand Prix (GP) championships, scheduled to be held at Bukit Jalil from April 10-11, would not be postponed so that national athletes could return to action after more than a year of not taking part in any competitions following the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the GP would be the best stage to gauge the level of preparation and performance of the athletes who will be competing in the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam as well as the two major meets in 2022, namely the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.