After four years of pain, Irfan Shamsuddin qualified for the men's discus throw final of the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Tuesday.
In 2018, the five-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist had a Commonwealth Games debut to forget when he failed to record a single throw in Gold Coast.
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This time, although the Malaysian failed his first attempt during the qualifying round at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, he registered 52.75m on his second try before improving to 57.93m.
Despite not being close to his national record of 62.55m, the mark was enough for him be among the 12 best performers to advance to Thursday's final, but he would face a stiff challenge to stand on the podium.
Jamaican discus thrower Traves Smikle led the pack with 64.90m, followed closely by Australia's Matthew Denny (64.63m) and Englishman Lawrence Okoye (63.79m).
