Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s Joyce Heng Shu Xia made a stunning debut at the 29th Thailand Master Athletics Championship held at the Chiang Rai Province Stadium over the weekend.
She captured a total of six gold and four silver medals in the women’s 35-39 category.
The Joyce won golds in the javelin, shotput, discus, hammer throw, pole vault and high jump events, while the silvers came from 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump.
She was delighted with the results and admitted that it was a surprise to her as she only targeted podium finishes in the shotput and discus events before the start of the competition.
“I am of course very happy with the final outcome. To have won medals in all the events I competed in was beyond my expectation. “I am very thankful to my coach Juliana Gumpil for her guidance and encouragement in the pole vault. I will definitely be taking part in more international competitions in the future.
“There are a lot of upcoming competitions but so far only the 37th Malaysian International Open Masters Athletics Championships date is confirmed on May 23-25,” she said.
Meanwhile, three other Sabahans also did well in the competition by contributing an additional five silvers and three bronzes.
Abdul Mulok Awang Damit in the men’s 70-74 category won one silver in pole vault and a bronze in high jump, Helena Majalang in the women’s 75-79 category delivered two silvers in javelin and shotput, while Lee Ngit Yung captured two silvers in long jump, discus and two bronzes in javelin and shotput in the women’s 80-84 category.
