Her Leap Of Faith Now Bears Fruit

Rozario's reunion with coach Obidko sees her jump 6.16m to reach her first SEA Games

- Deepanraj Ganesan

When Tia Rozario was in her early teens, she was already clearing 5.5 metres with her long jumps and dominating school competitions.

Recognising her potential, Valeri Obidko, her jumps coach at the Singapore Sports School then, set her a target of 6m.

More than 10 years later, with coach and protege reunited, Rozario has finally hit that target and, in doing so, qualified for her first SEA Games by meeting the 6.02m qualifying mark.

At the Thailand Open Track & Field Championships on June 22, the 24-year-old shattered her previous personal best of 5.95m. At the National Athletics Centre in Pathum Thani, she jumped an impressive 6.16m, just two centimetres shy of the national record set by Eugenia Tan in 2015.

Rozario, who cleared 6m thrice, earned the silver medal, while Sri Lanka's Madushani Herath (6.37m) won the gold and Thailand's Supawat Choothong (6.01m) bagged the bronze.

She said: "I'm definitely very excited to have qualified for the SEA Games for the first time. But I think I was more excited to finally hit the 6m milestone...

"We've waited close to 10 years for this moment so it's really special and feels like a full circle moment that I got to hit six metres with coach by my side."

Obidko was appointed the national jumps coach by Singapore Athletics in January 2024.