High jumper Nauraj goes out with a whimper in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM: National athlete Nauraj Singh Randhawa suffered another low when he became the first out of the field of 13 participants to bow out in the men's high jump final of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games here today.

Nauraj, who came to Birmingham bent on breaking his national record of 2.30-metre (m) set at the Singapore Open in 2017, failed all three attempts of his second jump at 2.10m in a packed Alexander Stadium.

His latest setback comes in the wake of his failure to extend Malaysia's regional dominance in high jump when he could only get a silver at the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam in May.

The 30-year-old revealed that a heel injury he sustained during today's action took a toll on his third appearance here after Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018.

"I don't have anything much to say at the moment... I trained so hard and prepared so well. I really felt so good before the Games but I was just unable to jump... my heel was so painful.

"It's so frustrating and I am so angry. I can accept failure you know... but the Commonwealth Games come once every four years," he told the Malaysian media.

Nauraj then walked away and sank to his knees at the exit of the mixed zone area nearby, with tears streaming down his face.

-- BERNAMA