SINGAPORE - Sprint queen Shanti Pereira won the 200m race at the Singapore Open Track & Field Championships on Friday (April 28) in 23.87sec, under the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games qualifying mark of 23.92s.

The 20-year-old is the reigning SEA Games 200m champion after her triumph on home soil in 2015.

She finished ahead of Malaysians Zaidatul Zulkifli (23.94s) and Komal Selvaratnam (24.3s) at the National Stadium.

Coach Margaret Oh was happy with Shanti's performance, as she told The Straits Times: "She hasn't run below 24 seconds for a long time - since the last SEA Games."

Oh added she had "more or less" expected the result, as Shanti had shown improvement throughout training.

The latter had in January met the SEA Games qualifying mark for the 100m event, posting 11.85s at the Potts T&F meet in New Zealand.

The qualifying mark is pegged at the bronze medal result of the previous Games.

This year's edition of the biennial Games will be held in Malaysia from Aug 19-30.