SINGAPORE — It may have been her first meet of the season, but that did not stop high jumper Michelle Sng from making her mark at the Singapore Athletics Track and Field Series 1 yesterday. The 28-year-old, who won a bronze medal at last June’s SEA Games, leapt 1.75m in the women’s high jump final at the Kallang Practice Track to earn a spot at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Qatar next month.

While the result was 9cm off her national record of 1.84m set at last year’s Philippines Open, Sng had decided to call it a day after surpassing the Asian indoor qualifying height of 1.70m.

“I stopped after 1.75m as it is really early in the season and my aim was to qualify for the Asian indoor,” said Sng. “I wasn’t thinking too much about it as the jump conditions were not great, due to the very strong headwinds.”

Sng has been in good form since her comeback from retirement. She had hung up her spikes five years ago after undergoing surgery for stress fractures in her left shin in 2007.

In March last year, she finally bettered her national record of 1.80m, before leaping 1.81m at the SEA Games in June to finish third and claim her first Games medal.

She is hoping to set a new personal best (PB) and national indoor mark in Doha next month. “I hope to be able to jump at least 1.80m, and it will be great if I can break my PB,” she said.

“It’s my first indoor meet and I’m not sure what to expect, as the last time I jumped indoors was in Secondary 1 in the school gym with no shoes on. It will be interesting to be able to jump with some of the top jumpers in the region. It will also be really cool to see (Mutaz Essa) Barshim (Asian champion and record holder) there.”

Yesterday’s meet also saw Evian Chua setting a new national Under-18 record in the girls’ javelin. The 15-year-old hurled a distance of 37.85m to finish first in the event and better the previous mark of 35.70m. LOW LIN FHOONG